Akwaaba! Welcome!!

Welcome to "Hɛn Gyaadze!"—Our Kitchen, a podcast series about food and the women who make them. I am so glad you are here.

Before we begin, I want you to imagine something.

Imagine waking up early in the morning in Komenda, a small coastal town in Ghana. The sun is just beginning to rise. Fires are being lit. Pots are warming. Someone is stirring porridge. Someone else is frying koose. Across town, women are setting up tables, arranging ingredients, preparing meals, and getting ready for another day.

Now imagine all the stories moving alongside that food.

Stories of mothers. Stories of sacrifice. Stories of different ways of living.

Stories of women building lives and futures one meal at a time.

Those are the stories that inspired this podcast.

For many people, food is simply something we eat. But for many women in Komenda, food is also work. It is care. It is survival. It is community. It is the means through which families are raised, school fees are paid, neighbors are supported, and dreams are kept alive.

I know this because I grew up surrounded by these women.

I watched my mother build a life through food work. I watched my sister do the same. I watched women wake before dawn and return home long after sunset. I watched them feed not only their own families but entire community.

And yet, their stories are rarely told.

When people talk about economies, development, or labor, they do not always talk about the woman standing over a charcoal stove. They do not always talk about the woman selling kenkey, fish, waakye, or porridge by the roadside. They do not always talk about the care, knowledge, and resilience carried in these everyday acts.

Hɛn Gyaadze! is my invitation to change that.

Over the next several episodes, you will hear directly from women food vendors in Komenda. They will tell us how they entered food work, what they have learned along the way, the challenges they face, the victories they celebrate, and the futures they are building for themselves, their children, and the community as a whole.

Some stories may make you laugh. Some may surprise you. Some may remind you of someone you know. But all of them matter.

And whether you are listening from Komenda, from somewhere else in Ghana, or from a classroom, office, or thousands of miles away, I hope these conversations help us think differently about food labor and its actors across the world.

Because this podcast is not only about food. It is about the people behind the food. It is about the hands that prepare it. The relationships that sustain it. And the stories that travel with it.

In Akan, Hɛn Gyaadze means "Our Kitchen."

Not my kitchen. Not their kitchen. Our kitchen.

A shared space where we gather, listen, learn, and remember that every meal carries a story.

So, thank you for joining me.

Take a seat. The fire is warm. The food is almost ready.

And the stories are waiting.

Medaase! Thank you