What is "fufu"

n. (alternative spelling of foo-foo English)

Fufu (variants of the name include foofoo, fufuo, foufou) is a staple food with deep roots in Ghana's history and common in many countries of West Africa and the Caribbean. It is often made with cassava and green Plantain Flour. Other flours, such as semolina, maize flour or mashed plantains may take the place of cassava flour. Fufu, served alongside soup, usually groundnut soup, Palm nut soup or Light Soup, is a national dish of Ghana.

An alternative method is to boil starchy food crops like cassava, yams or plantains and cocoyams and then pound them into a dough-like consistency. Fufu is eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce. Foods made in this manner are known by different names in different places. However, the word fufu stands out as the derivative of the Twi language of the Akan in Ghana, West Africa. It is from the Twi word fufuo meaning "white", due to its appearance. Fufuo, then, is the original way to refer to the dish. Among the Baule and other Akan groups in Cote d'Ivoire , it is known as sakora; among the Dagombas of Northern Ghana as sakoro; and as couscous (couscous de Cameroun) in the French-speaking regions of Cameroon (not to be confused with the North African dish couscous).

Fufu (Tanzanian ward) is an administrative ward in the Dodoma Rural district of the Dodoma Region of Tanzania.

Fufu or Foo Foo (; ; 1997–2015) was the pet poodle of Maha Vajiralongkorn, the Crown Prince of Thailand and heir apparent to the throne. The dog was a favourite of the prince and often accompanied him on royal engagements. According to the prince, his second daughter Sirivannavari Nariratana bought the dog when it was aged about one month from Chatuchak market in Bangkok, along with some rabbits, hamsters and other dogs. He was "quite cute, but seemed very weak", and due to his daughter's young age the dog was kept in a pet shelter by palace staff. Fufu was occasionally put through his paces in public, as happened during the Thailand Grand Pet Show in Nakhon Pathom in December 2006 when the dog was said to have "exuded charm and executed clever stunts." According to a 2007 US diplomatic cable later published by Wikileaks, Fufu was also "promoted" to the rank of air chief marshal in the Royal Thai Air Force.

Fufu came to wider public attention in 2007 when he appeared in a leaked video showing the Crown Prince's third wife, Princess Srirasm, feeding a birthday cake to the dog while wearing only a G-string. The video, which was thought to have been leaked by opponents of the Crown Prince, caused a sensation in Thailand and exposed a hidden struggle for the right to succeed the ailing Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej.

A few months later, US Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce attended a gala dinner in honour of the Crown Prince at which the dog appeared "dressed in formal evening attire complete with paw mitts". According to the ambassador's cable to Washington, subsequently released by WikiLeaks, "at one point during the band's second number, he jumped up onto the head table and began lapping from the guests' water glasses, including my own. The air chief marshal's antics drew the full attention of the 600-plus audience members, and remains the talk of the town to this day."

The death of Fufu in early 2015 was followed by four days of Buddhist funeral rites and the dog's cremation, images from which were widely shared on social media in Thailand. The funeral attracted commentary from Thais as an oblique and ironic reflection of worries over the king's succession, which cannot be aired openly in Thailand due to a lèse majesté law that attracts draconian penalties.