First Lady cookout competition unlocks gastronomic tourism

Rutendo Nyeve, Correspondent
WHEN the First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa introduced her nationwide cooking competitions, the key objective was to popularise traditional dishes that have immense health and nutritional benefits.

The move during its inception was also expected to promote healthy eating and fight Covid-19 and other ailments like cancer.

The initiative was birthed out of the realisation that the consumption of indigenous foods has been on a decrease in the country as most people are opting for fast foods, exposing the citizenry to the negative after-effects of some processed foods. It was against this background that our elders used to consume more traditional foods than anything else resulting in them living longer.

The provincial cookout competitions carried out across the country through the leadership of the First Lady created a platform for knowledge sharing and skills impartation on how to prepare traditional meals. With the programme having benefited communities with a cocktail of results that range from improvement in diets, cooking skills and creation of new products, the programme seems to be unlocking the full potential of one key sector.

Food is a vital need for human existence and is at the heart of hospitality, not only in the African culture but in almost all communities the world over.

And for that reason, one cannot fail to see the contribution of the First Lady’s cooking competition to the existence and sustenance of gastronomic tourism. The need for food is the same for all but it also differentiates us. Gastronomic or culinary tourism arose precisely because of this difference — the difference between tourists who simply eat during their travels and those for whom gastronomy has a decisive influence in the choice of their destination.

The use of quality ingredients and the unique recipes of each place have pushed many people to travel around the world to taste Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Peruvian cuisine, and many more. A gastronomic tourism trip may also include participation in cooking classes or visits to traditional product production units and processing companies (dairies, olive mills, canneries, wineries, et cetera.),

The growing popularity of national cuisines such as Thailand, India, Mexico, and China are largely attributed to tourism where visitors try local food. Traditionally, a specific cuisine represents the country they originate from. Mention of the very name of the country brings forth the name of the archetypal food in a flash. While making a visit to the country, the tourist has in mind a desire to sample typical local delicacies.

Zimbabwe like all other destinations has proved to have its own unique cuisine in various geographical spaces. In Victoria Falls, the Boma Dinner and Drum Show, a night of song, drumming and dance stands out with one unique feature which is its local cuisine.

Crispy seasoned mopane worms (madora/amacimbi) beckons and upon request the staff will even issue a certificate to mark the occasion of one’s culinary boldness. But in addition to the food aspect, gastronomic tourism includes varieties of wines, champagnes, beers, and unique local drinks. In that vein, before one can tackle the mopane or any of the other dishes at the Boma, a smiling waiter eagerly provides escort to the table to serve a welcoming glass of a traditional brew of beer or amahewu.

The rolling out of the 2022 edition of Amai’s Traditional Cookout competitions which started on 22 April with Mashonaland Central, followed by Matabeleland North Province and Bulawayo recently, has seen such traditional foods being showcased.
Speaking at Amai’s traditional cookout provincial competitions in Bulawayo, Deputy Minister of Environment, Climate and Hospitality Industry Hon Barbara Rwodzi spoke of how the cookout competitions could boost and unlock tourism potential.

“These celebrations come at a time when the nation is trying to recover from the distressing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as the tourism sector, we were not spared from the impact of Covid-19 as we experienced a drastic fall in both receipts and arrivals. Despite the challenges which the sector has been exposed to, the sector remains resilient, and efforts are underway to come up with means to increase the diversity of our product offerings, with the cookout initiative as one of the efforts to increase product diversity in our offerings,” said Minister Rwodzi.

While giving a specific plea to Bulawayo Deputy Minister Rwodzi said: “Bulawayo is known as the City of Kings and Queens, let us join hands and preserve the history and culture of the province. A number of historical and cultural sites here in Bulawayo present opportunities to attract tourists to the province, for example, the hanging tree, the natural history museums, the old Bulawayo, the Khami Monuments, among others.

If we package all these sites of cultural and historical significance, together with the unique traditional cuisine that we have seen today, surely we can produce a product of high value with great potential to attract more and more visitors.”

The cooking competition is not the first initiative done by the First Lady to promote culinary tourism. She also introduced culinary demonstrations which were part of Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo and consisted of a number of disciplines that included wine-tasting, cake making and dessert making, among many others.

This was a way of promoting culinary tourism because any traveller needs to eat and, in most cases, they want to eat what they find in the destination. Zimbabwe remains a key strategic gastronomic tourist destination as the basic factor that goes into making a tour destination and a hotspot for culinary attraction is the availability of natural resources and attractions.