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This paper provides an initial analysis of Ghana’s protein economy in the light of current debates about nutritional transition and livestock revolution. Ghana’s strong economic growth and reducing levels of poverty make it a particularly interesting case. Protein-rich foods, including fish and livestock products, supply 20–40 % of protein consumed. Overall fish is becoming less important and poultry more important; but there are also large differences in household expenditure on protein-rich foods across wealth categories, regions and areas. Specifically, the protein element of the nutritional transition and the consumption side of the livestock revolution would appear to be unfolding at different speeds and in different ways, along an axis that is urban–south–non-poor at one end, and rural–north–poor at the other. We explore the policy and political economy dimensions of these changes.