The Brandon Gonez show visited Nyamekye, a Ghanaian restaurant in Toronto, to learn more about West African cuisine, the Ghanaian culture and try traditional food.
On June 17, Ghana and Panama will compete in the second FIFA World Cup match held at Toronto Stadium, and to get ready to celebrate, The Brandon Gonez Show visited an authentic Ghanaian restaurant based in Toronto called Nyamekye.
Located at 15-2965 Islington Ave., this restaurant is home of authentic West African flavours.
“We make it [the food] like we’re cooking at home. So when you come in and you eat, it feels like you’re eating from what you made at home,” Mather Boateng, the owner and head chef of Nyamekye told The Brandon Gonez Show.
Mather Boateng is the owner and head chef of Nyamekye, an authentic Ghanaian restaurant in Toronto.
Nyamekye (pronounced nyah-meh-chay) is a Ghanaian name and word meaning “gift of God” and was named after Mather Boateng’s great-grandmother.
Boateng started a hot sauce business before opening her restaurant in Toronto, and although the company is named after her great-grandmother, sadly she had passed away in 2020 before the opening of Nyamekye.
“I know wherever she is now, we believe that she looks over us, and then she’ll probably know that we have it [Nyamekye] now,” shares Boateng.
“If you look at the restaurant industry, we’ve only been here for, like, just almost two years. A lot of people are still struggling, but then I’m grateful for how far we’ve come. So I believe that she’s also praying for us, looking over us,” she added.
Boateng shares what makes their nation’s food so special is the way each person cooks differently with the same ingredients, and describes the taste as “powerful”.
Traditional Ghanaian dishes include jollof rice, a tomato based rice with Scotch bonnet peppers, and fufu which is cassava or plantain flour pounded into a stretchy dough. Another staple is waakye, which is commonly eaten for breakfast or lunch and consists of cooked rice and beans and usually served with beef, cow foot, egg and fish.
These dishes are traditionally eaten with your hands or a spoon.
There is an ongoing “jollof war” between the Ghanaian and Nigerian communities, and Boateng weighs in on which country truly has the best jollof rice.
“I’m in between, you know why? Because I think that it depends on who is making the food, right? You can eat jollof from a Nigerian home that is so nice, and you can eat a jollof from a Ghanaian home that is not that good. It depends on who is cooking the food,” she tells The Brandon Gonez Show.
With Ghana’s men’s soccer team playing in Toronto, this is a very special time for the Ghanaian community in Canada and fans are ready to root on the team on Wednesday.
“So I think it’s going to be a very nice game. If you’ve played football, you know that the supporters even makes a difference. If your supporters are calm and don’t have energy, it affects the crowd. A lot of people are going to cheer for them, and then we’re gonna win,” says Boateng.
Ghana soccer fans are excited for the game and predict a victory for the team known as “The Black Stars”, which means “the hope of Africa”.
“It’s going to be 2-1 in favor of ‘The Black Stars’ of Ghana. That must happen. Then you will see what we call the ‘jama’. The ‘jama’ is going to happen under the stadium,” a Ghanaian fan told The Brandon Gonez Show.
The word “jama” is a famous chant used in Ghanaian sports culture to celebrate victory.
Many are even travelling to Toronto to witness Ghana play in the World Cup on Wednesday.
People eating at Nyamekye, some of which flew in to Toronto from other countries to watch the Panama vs. Ghana game at Toronto Stadium.
A Ghanaian fan visiting Nyamekye, travelled from Ottawa to Toronto ahead of the game and is already anticipating the post game celebration, telling The Brandon Gonez Show, “That will be a big party. We’re going to beat them two goals to nothing.”
Ghana’s star player and midfielder Thomas Partey has lost his bid for emergency relief, after Canada denied him entry to play on Wednesday as he is currently awaiting trial in England on mulitple rape and sexual assault charges.
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Although fans are keeping their spirits high despite this situation, and they are still confident Ghana will defeat Panama.
“With or without Partey, we are beating Panama 2-nill tomorrow [June 17],” a Ghanaian fan told The Brandon Gonez Show.
The Ghanaian community prides themselves on being a welcoming and proud nation.
“Once someone knows, ‘oh, you’re from Ghana’, they just get excited right away,” said Boateng. “Because I think a lot of people have experienced different parts of Ghana, and especially if you’ve visited, once you say you’re Ghanaian, just because of how someone treated you when you went to Ghana, they just give you that love right back.”
