Bread, bread and more bread in East Akim

So one of many things I have in common with Ghanaians is my love for bread.

After a meeting at the East Akim Municipal Assembly in Kibi today, a colleague led me to a totally hidden gem behind the Assembly’s office.

Up a small hill, and following a sort of winding, man-made path, I found my first experience with a Ghanaian bakery specializing in bread: We’re talking butter bread, sugar bread, tea bred, buns, the whole thing. As we approached, my first sight was a taxi with the entire backseat FULL of butter breads and sugar breads.

What’s interesting isn’t just the product (delicious bread); it was also fascinating to see the organization of the different workers in the bakery, and each of their roles in the preparation, baking and selling process: There’s the woman in charge of buttering the pans of bread before they go to the oven, there’s the man who puts in and takes out the bread from an immense, traditional mud stove, there’s the women who carry the just-out-of-the-oven bread to the shop, there are also all the women selling the different types of bread to their various customers. It’s totally a hidden gem, but super organized and efficient, and they open in the early morning and sell into the evening.

In Ghana these days, imported versions of the most basic products are fast becoming commonplace (tomatoes and onions from Burkina Faso, for example). That said, there’s one product that’s definitely strong in local production and consumption, and that’s bread. Perhaps it’s related to the talented bakers and their production of high-quality bread, or even the shelf life of the product, I’m not sure.

But if you’re ever in Kibi, check out this bakery behind the East Akim Municipal Assembly office! One cedi paid and two rock buns later, I was one happy customer.