Ghana to the World
by Eric AdjepongSetting: Ghana
Genres: Cooking / Regional & Cultural / African
Published on March 11, 2025
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover Source: Library
A transportive, highly personal cookbook of 100 West African-influenced recipes and stories from Top Chef finalist Eric Adjepong.
“Sankofa” is a Ghanaian Twi word that roughly translates to the idea that we must look back in order to move forward. In his moving debut cookbook, chef Eric Adjepong practices sankofa by showcasing the beauty and depth of West African food through the lens of his own culinary journey.
With 100 soul-satisfying recipes and narrative essays, Ghana to the World reflects Eric’s journey to understand his identity and unique culinary perspective as a first-generation Ghanaian American. The recipes in this book look forward and backward in time, balancing the traditional and the modern and exploring the lineage of West African cooking while embracing new elements. Eric includes traditional home-cooked meals from his mother, like a deeply flavorful jollof rice and a smoky, savory kontomire stew thick with leafy greens, alongside creative dishes influenced by his culinary education, like a sweet summer curried corn bisque and sticky tamarind-glazed duck legs.
Full of stunning photography shot in Ghana and remembrances rooted in family, tradition, and love, Ghana to the World shows readers how the unsung story of a continent’s cuisine can shine a powerful light on one person’s exploration of who he is as a chef and a man.
I’ve never watched Top Chef so I wasn’t aware of Eric Adjepong. I found this book on Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of 2025 list. My library had it so I decided to give it a try.
There wasn’t a lot in here that I was able to make. It isn’t a very vegetarian, let alone vegan, friendly cookbook so I wasn’t surprised. It also leaned pretty heavily on several of my husband’s allergens. We were definitely not the target audience for this book.
I did make one recipe though.
This is Sugar Bread. It is a yeasted sweet bread from the breakfast chapter. It is a pretty straightforward bread except that the dough contains a cup of powdered sugar. It was good but not the healthiest thing in the world. I kept the recipe but I don’t know how often I would end up making this.
There is a lot of nice photography in this book of areas around Ghana. Each chapter is prefaced with a section about the author’s life and how he came to embrace West African cooking.
I’d recommend this book to at least look through and see if any of the recipes catch your eye.
