Aside from sports and entertainment, culinary arts is also taking Nigeria further in global rankings judging from recent events; SUNNY IDACHABA writes.
Even though it seems Nigeria, as a country, has poor global reckoning in some aspects of life, Nigerians are always on the spotlight as many are usually top of their games on the global scene whenever the chips are down.
This is attested to form some engagements of the citizens in global and continental assignments. For instance, the exploits of Nigerian policemen and members of the Armed Forces at United Nations events in the past cannot be forgotten despite the poor image of the country.
In those engagements, their exploits surpass their colleagues from other countries. Even the civilian service-Technical Aids Corps scheme mid-wifed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reports of Nigerians in those voluntary services is but legendary. The same now applies to culinary exploits.
Recently, a Nigerian chef, Hilda Effiong Bassey popularly known as Hilda Baci, a relatively unknown name, stunned the whole world by putting her name and by extension that of her country in the Guinness Book of Record when she cooked for 100 hours non-stop; perhaps, the longest one in world history.
Her exploit on May 15, this year, added another cap to the image of Nigeria as a country endowed with talents, but only forced to crawl because of bad leadership.
It would be recalled in 2017 when the immediate past vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, stunned the West African sub-continent when he declared that Nigeria’s jollof rice is the best in the region. He said this at the annual event entitled, The Platform, organised by Poju Oyemade every May 1 at the National Arts Theatre in Lagos.
Osinbajo had said, “And by the way, we all know that Nigerian jollof rice is the best; we beat the Ghanaians and Senegalese hands down. We have everything and our people are doing incredibly innovative things. He was speaking on the sideline of a comment by Lai Mohammed on a CNN programme where he alluded to Nigerian jollof rice as competing with those from Ghana and Senegal. As much as the two public comments were not official policy statements, reactions from the international community rated Nigerian cuisine as one of the best globally.
Food festival to the rescue
It was from that perspective that the director general of Nigeria Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) Nura Sani Kangiwa took Nigeria further into the global scene through the Gastronomy Festival on food jamboree.
The festival which is endorsed by the United Nations has top diplomats of the Spanish Embassy in Abuja confirming their readiness to participate in the food fair. Report has it that this is not the first time that the embassy would be participating in the festival which is emerging as one of the fastest growing food festivals in Africa.
It would be recalled that the Embassy’s cuisines exhibition stand during the 2022 NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival was one of the most visited by food sampling participants.
As a follow-up to this year’s festival, the Spanish Embassy Consul in Abuja, Patricia Gomez Lanzaco, was said to have told the NIHOTOUR boss that the embassy would increase its participation, assuring that the embassy will be inviting and sponsoring a renowned Spanish Chef to come to Nigeria for the festival. Apart from that, the consul said the world-acclaimed chef would deliver master classes on ‘emerging best practices in Culinary Arts’ to groups of Nigerian Catering and Culinary Schools.
In his response, an appreciative Giwa said, “We are most grateful to the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria and equally excited at the support the Spanish government is providing to NIHOTOUR, especially relating to the festival.
“Such technical support of bringing Spanish Culinary Arts experts all the way from Spain to train Nigerian catering and culinary schools are hitherto unparalleled and predictably transformative for the Nigerian hospitality industry and food culture.”
Clarifying further, Kangiwa said, “Suffice to say, the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria is inexplicably contributing to putting Nigerian cuisines on the global gastronomy tourism map. As a matter of fact, since I became the DG of NIHOTOUR, my goal has been to deepen the knowledge and technical capacity of personnel in culinary schools, catering enterprises and the tourism industry across Nigeria.”
It is noteworthy that NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival is conceptualised and programmed to up-skill Nigerian gastronomes and culinary artists on the technicalities, and emerging global best practises in the area of processing, preparing, presenting, packaging and promotion of foods, especially Nigerian traditional cuisines.
Since NIHOTOUR’s announcement of the dates and venue of this year’s Gastronomy Festival, a number of countries and Nigerian food brands have confirmed their participation to showcase their national cuisines and beverages.
Some of these countries include China, Trinidad & Tobago, Senegal and Cote D’ Ivoire. More so, some leading Nigerian allied-food and beverage brands have confirmed their participation in the Gastronomy Festival, including Dano Milk Danone and Delifrost.
From all indications, it is expected that more Embassies in Nigeria and leading food and beverage brands would partake in the festival to showcase their brands at the festival and in the process put Nigeria on positive global reckoning.
It would be recalled that the observation of Sustainable Gastronomy Day has been going on globally until Nigeria joined in 2021 predicated on the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution 71/246.
Therefore, the 2021 edition was the fifth to be marked globally, but first in Nigeria with over 1, 500 attendees across industry stakeholders including government agencies, private sector and related businesses.
During the maiden festival Nora Ladi Daduut, a senator and vice- chairman of the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, noted that Sustainable Gastronomy Day is beyond the one-day celebration and more of a call-for-action on food security and promoting Nigeria’s rich food culture to the world.
“As a nation, we need to grow what we eat, eat what we grow, woo the world to eat what we grow and impact the economy by doing so.”
She insisted that there has to be food security in the country first, which should also be in the front burner of national discourse.
“Today’s celebration is a further call on the government and all stakeholders to intensify efforts on food security because food is a basic necessity, and food security will not only fight hunger, but also eradicate poverty. But food should be both available and affordable to the people.”
In the 2022 edition, Ethiopian Embassy, Spanish Embassy, Chinese Embassy all brought their countries’ menu to Nigeria at the ceremony, with many eating their fill.
Varieties
According to Dawn Garcia, the publisher of ATOD magazine dedicated to cuisines and culture, “Nigerian cuisine traditionally is made up of rice, couscous, potatoes, grills and chicken which have been influenced by the Portuguese and English. However due to the influence of Indian cuisine, Nigerian cuisine also consists of a lot of hot peppers and spices.
“A common breakfast, bean paste wrapped in leaves, in Nigeria dates back to the days of Portuguese mariners. It is believed that this dish was prepared for the mariners who had spent a long time at sea with limited access to fresh vegetables.
“She is a region plentiful in vegetation, vibrant colors and textures and abundant in variety. Preferred ingredients such as peppers, okra, black pepper, meat, eggs, soups, fish, rice, and plantains are utilised daily in some form or fashion. But it’s the soups that are a staple in the world of Nigerian cuisine being sought after globally.”
‘Nigerian cuisines have global reach’
Speaking on the sideline of perception about Nigerian cuisines, a retired chef in former Ikoyi Hotels in Lagos, Mr. Femi Olatunji, said Nigeria has a variety of food that could be sought after by nationals of every country in the world.
“When you talk of aquatic food, we have it; when you talk of spices, it is available and when you talk of starch for another category of people, Nigeria has enough of it here. My experiences as an international cook show that whenever anyone enters Nigeria, their food choice is readily available and that is something that can sell the image of Nigeria,” he said.
Poor regulatory machinery
The industry, however, is left like an orphan most times. This is the concern of Stella Omoruwa, a hotelier.
“If you recall, tourism and culture have really not had any reasonable place in the immediate past administration’s agenda. As a result of that, various state governments regulate the industry in line with their by-laws. That is why some atrocities of various kinds happen from state to state. As a result of this, no one even cares much about the cuisines offered anymore. These days, attention focuses more on restaurants, but I think there is something Nigeria can offer more in terms of our culinary services to complement lodging.”
