When KFC announced that they had plans of expanding to parts of Africa including Ghana, I was obviously ecstatic. The “fast food culture” is gradually expanding and taking over different parts of the world, including the small country Ghana. However, i wonder how this will affect our culture, and whether or not the eating patterns of Ghana is going to change dramatically.
We have different fast food franchises which are not exactly like the “McDonalds” and the “KFC’s” of America, but basically serve the same purpose; serving hamburgers and fries etc.
After reading Watson’s “McDonald’s in Hong Kong”, i could not help but notice the fact that even though globablization is taking place, there is a sort of “localization of the globalization”. At the end of his article, Watson asks “Where does transnational end and local begin?” For Ghana, the transnational will probably be the integration of the American “fast food culture” into our Ghanaian culture. The local will probably begin with us not cleaning up after eating, eating fries with forks, having other Ghanaian food items on the menus and making the burgers more meaty than any other thing. In this sense, the fast foods that are being created are tailored to fit the Ghanaian culture. But i keep on asking myself for how long will be be able to continue with the integration of both cultures? Won’t one take over the other in the long-run? Aren’t there parts of our cultures that clash? eventually one would have to give way to the other.
However, in Watson’s opinion, although we are subject to globalization, there are ways in which we can keep portions of the “local” culture, without getting swamped up in the transnational. I hope that for Ghana, the transnational does not become the local.
