(whimsical music) - Pet foods was one of the newer concepts for me when I first moved here.

In my culture, we do have pets, but they just eat whatever's leftover from the human beings that they eat it, the owners that eat it.

Yes.

Just the scraps.

(chiming music) - Hi, I'm Meg, Executive Producer at Nashville Public Television, and on this series we talk about the little things that stood out to people when they first moved to the region from another country.

And today, I'm here with Cephas Ablakwa.

Cephas moved to Nashville, Tennessee from Accra, Ghana.

- [Cephas] Yes.

- And he is an artist and educator who enjoys a good game of chess.

But today, I wanted to talk to you about something that you mentioned to me in an earlier conversation that stood out to you about pet food and how you were surprised by it and how prevalent it was in the US.

- Right.

- Could you just tell us a little bit about that observation?

- Well, thank you, Megan.

- Yeah.

- So when I moved here, I moved to Nashville as you mentioned.

And in my culture, we do have pets, but they just eat whatever's leftover from the human beings that they eat it, the owners that eat it.

Yes.

Just the scraps, right.

And you can even make them a whole meal, but you make it with the leftover food.

So pet foods was one of the newer concepts for me when I first moved here.

- That's funny.

'Cause I, it's like I'd never thought about that, but it is interesting.

Like, I'm buying a specific meal just for my cat.

- Right, right.

- A lot of times it's tuna, but then I would eat tuna too, so why - - Right.

Yes.

And most of our meals are cooked, you know, so we cooked our meal.

So it's natural to have leftovers or cook a meal for your dog with the scraps that's leftover.

Whether, you know, if you have a chicken, and you've taken all the breasts and the good parts out, the bones can be broken down and put into a meal that you can make - - [Meg] Yeah.

- For your dog, right?

Rather than going, so that was, that's a very (laughs) unusual thing.

- Are there differences that might stand out to people just related to everyday life or kind of household items and the way homes are designed- - That's right.

- Or the way that people- - Yes.

- You know, just live in their homes.

- Right.

- Did anything stand out to you when you came to Tennessee?

- Yes.

So when I moved to Tennessee, we had AC, or air condition in Ghana, but each room has its own unit.

- [Meg] Okay.

- [Cephas] Versus in the United States or even in Europe, they have the centralized AC.

So that was a different.

So each room had its unit but the kitchen, right?

- [Meg] Okay.

- Because the kitchen is where you cook.

It's constantly producing heat.

So it's almost didn't make sense to have an air conditioning in the kitchen.

I'm sure things have changed now.

I mean, but - - Yeah, sure.

Sure.

- But then that was a very unusual thing to think about, to have an air conditioning unit.

- [Meg] Yeah.

Well, you - - [Cephas] In the kitchen, right?

- Yeah.

I mean, you could think about it two ways too.

'Cause to me, I'm also, like, whoa, it gets hot in there.

I need that AC.

- Right.

- But then it's also, I think, maybe the mentality is more that's kind of wasteful, 'cause it's just gonna get hot again.

- Yes.

Yes.

- Is that it?

- But you know the saying.

- What?

- If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Right?

- (laughs) Right.

I mean, that's fair.

- So you do, yes.

So you do have to have, like, the kitchen is a hot place.

And it's counterintuitive to think that you're gonna put enough air in there to cool it.

Now, obviously, you're not cooking all the time.

So if you were to go inside, then it was, you know, it should be cool.

But one other thing is in houses then, the refrigerators are in the living room.

I mean, or in the dining room.

Excuse me.

- Oh, okay.

- So it didn't, you didn't frequent the kitchen unless you were cooking.

- [Meg] Oh, interesting.

- [Cephas] So at night, if you wanted a snack or something, you would go to the dining room.

- Okay.

- And yes.

- So, like, here, it would be more in this space than in, you know, where the stove and - - Right.

Yes.

- Okay.

- But also that it's open concept.

I think even in America, open concept has taken off in the last decade or two.

- True.

- But there, you have different rooms for each, you know, each thing.

You have the dining room, you have the living room, and the kitchen.

- Right.

- So the refrigerator was in the dining room.

'Cause that's where you ate, right?

So - - Yeah.

- So the kitchens were not a cool place.

It's not a place you hang out unless you're cooking or heating up food or something.

- And also we are having a cup of tea this afternoon.

- Yes.

Yes.

- And is that more typical for you to drink tea than coffee?

Is there a difference there?

- That is.

That is.

- Yeah?

Tell us about that.

- We are a tea culture versus, compared to coffee that is, you know.

Americans, we are more known for drinking coffee.

But in Ghana, tea is the more common drink as far as in the beverage for, you know, morning or late evening.

And I, that comes from our British heritage.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- Which as you may know, Ghana was colonized by England.

So we have a lot of our culture that is been influenced by the British culture, and tea is one of them.

- Yes.

- And so we drink a lot of tea.

People drink it all kind of ways.

They just drink it just plain.

- And you put a spot of milk in here.

Which again, that's more the British way.

- Yes.

Yes.

- I don't usually do that, but it is delicious.

So I'm enjoying it.

- Yes.

And a little bit of sugar.

- And a little sugar.

- [Cephas] Yes.

So that is, that's one of the things that we in a sense inherited from the British, if you want to say that.

- Yeah.

Interesting to note all these differences, and just appreciate you taking the time to have a cup of tea with me and share some of your observations when you first moved to Tennessee.

- [Cephas] Yeah.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

And thank you all for joining us for this episode of The Little Things.

If you enjoyed it, please leave us a thumbs up.

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Until next time, bye.

- [Announcer] Next Door Neighbors is made possible by the support of the Nissan Foundation.