'Asanka' sellers record poor sales despite love for age-old plate

The earthenware dish locally referred to as ‘Asanka’ or ‘ApotÉ”yowa’ in Akan has for many years been popular among Ghanaians.

Apart from being a utensil for grinding vegetables using the masher, the ‘Asanka’ is also a preferred bowl from which many Ghanaians love to enjoy their fufu. My interaction with most users indicates that the bowl is still quite popular among Ghanaians as some of them were emphatic that they would on any day choose the ‘Asanka’ over the contemporary glass and plastic bowls.

One lady for instance told me she eats from the earthenware bowl because “it makes me feel Ghanaian, and more importantly, African. I don’t know whether it comes from the earthenware bowl or something else but the food tastes really nice when I eat from the bowl.”

A middle-aged man who was busily enjoying his fufu and groundnut soup from a black ‘Asanka’ at a mini chop bar in town said he really liked eating from the earthenware bowl because that’s what he has known all his life. He explained that his fufu and banku were always served in the earthenware bowl “so I have become used to it. We have also been asked to patronise made in Ghana goods and since these bowls are Ghana-made, I prefer them to the others and I feel if I do, the manufacturers in the villages would be able to make some money.”

But the earthenware bowl is not used only, to serve dishes as mentioned above. It is used also for grinding vegetables among other things. Some users tell me using the bowl alongside the masher to crush vegetables for stew and soup preparations is incomparable to the contemporary blender. For them, the bowl brings out the best taste. “The blender never gives that quality taste” one of them exclaimed.

Inspite of this, traders in Tanoso in the Bono Ahafo Region are unhappy. This is because sales have reduced drastically. So I visited Tanoso, in the region and business was bustling with activity. Lining the roadside were lots of sellers of earthenware dishes, with their brown and black dishes piled high up under sheds.

Demand for the product they tell me, has been going down drastically. Nana Esi, a trader said “business is so bad lately. I’ve been here the whole day yet, have sold nothing. I was making a profit of about 400 Cedis daily but lately, it’s difficult to even make a 100 Cedis.” She cited the high wholesale prices of the bowls as the reason for the poor sales. A pack of 3 which used to sell at 2 Cedis is now going for 5 Cedis – a phenomenon the porters say is due to the scarcity of the clay – the raw material used in the manufacturing of the bowls.

A chief potter in the area Kofi Gyan elucidated that the scarcity has come about because of the rainy season, which he said makes it difficult to get clay. “If there were means of easy excavation and storage, we could have saved some quantity for use in times like these because it gets very slippery and dangerous to attempt winning clay at this time.” They are therefore, calling for support in order to stay in business.