Emmanuel "Chop Chop" Boateng started filming Accra's street vendors to combat loneliness. Now he has 4 million followers and a cookbook deal in 12 countries.
Emmanuel Boateng started his TikTok account in 2022 because he had just moved back to Ghana after six years in the UK and felt like a stranger in his own city. "I used food to reconnect," he says. "I would go to a kenkey seller in Bukom, sit down, eat, and film it. That was my therapy."
Three years later, @ChopChopAccra has 4.1 million followers. His videos — simple, phone-filmed, zero filters — follow a consistent format: he finds a vendor, orders whatever they recommend, and eats it on camera with genuine, sometimes overwhelming, enthusiasm.
"People think there's a formula but there isn't," he says. "I just eat and feel things." His most-viewed video — a €2 waakye meal filmed in Nima that has 28 million views — captures him tearing off a piece of fried plantain and whispering, "This is what peace tastes like." It now has its own Wikipedia entry.
The overnight success has led to a cookbook deal with Penguin Random House, set to publish in 12 countries later this year. But Emmanuel is cautious about what growth means. "I don't want to become a brand. The vendors are the story. Madam Efua selling waakye since 1989 — that's the story."
He still takes the trotro to his shoots. He still pays his own bill. "The day I stop doing that is the day this stops being real," he says.
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Ama Owusu
Ama specialises in lifestyle, fashion, and the creative economy. Her writing champions Ghanaian designers and entrepreneurs who are redefining African aesthetics.