Book: From Pasta to Pigfoot
Author: Frances Mensah Williams
Publisher: Jacaranda Books
Price: £7.99
Review by Barbara Grant
This delightful romantic adventure captures, with stark realism, the journey of cultural awakening, self discovery, love and familial relationships experienced by the main character Faye Bonsu.
Having spent years “fitting” in at school in the London suburbs, then trying to fit in with her boyfriend and his highly strung black conscious friends, Faye attempts to swap middle class pasta for the more culturally urban pigfoot. This decision leads her on a quest to seek her true identity.
An encounter with Michael’s friend Wesley triggers in her the need to go “back home”. She takes a leave of absence from her unsatisfactory job as a PA in a firm of solicitors and journeys to see her family in Ghana.
Faye’s father Dr Bonsu arranges for her to stay with the Asante family. The mother, Amelia Asante, was best friends with Faye’s deceased mother and makes her feel welcome. Before long she is part of the daughter Amma’s social circle while her attention is taken with Amma’s handsome brother Rocky.
During her eventful journey of self discovery there are many twists and turns, some welcome, such as visiting her dead mother’s village; others less so, particularly the drama with her former boyfriend Michael and his ex-girlfriend Jasmine.
During her personal quest, Faye realises what she mistook for love was the total opposite, which helps her realise that she was right to turn her back on bully boy Michael.
In just three weeks, while over 3,000 miles away from her Hampstead home, Faye finds real love with Rocky, a man who is willing to swap his “pigfoot” for her “pasta”.
Food is used well in the book to symbolise the middle class societies of both Hampstead and Accra. What Faye saw as distasteful in London captures her passion in Accra. On her return to London she decides to no longer underachieve in her life and signs up for university, which she had previously side stepped.
We all know a Faye or a Michael – and would love to know a Rocky (you’ll see what I mean when you read the book). Which makes it easy to sympathise with some of the hurdles Faye faces in her romantic relationships as she takes those baby steps toward becoming a fully fledged adult.
Frances Mensah Williams’s portrays her likeable characters with great skill. They are warm, generous and gregarious. The description of Faye’s familial and social community, both in London and Ghana, is down to earth and bursting with fondness and humour.
This book will appeal to a wide audience as there is something for everyone – travel, adventure and romance. One to pack for the beach.