Pizza or waakye? Case for brand value for our local dishes
Seeing a foreigner eating any of our local foods comes with some level of surprise.
Almost all of us think it is unimaginable for any of our local foods to penetrate formal settings to compete with the so-called continental dishes on offer during office break time, meeting lunches and programme dinners.
Not even to talk about them listed on the menus of hotels and restaurants outside our shores.
Though patriotic feelings drive some caterers and chefs to include them on menus and buffets in high-level hotels and restaurants occasionally, their brand value remains local.
The process involved in preparing many of our local foods takes too much time and energy.
Unlike most foreign dishes, our local dishes lack aesthetic appeal when served in either bowl or plate.
The sense of food art is totally missing when they are served.
It also looks awkward when using a fork or spoon to eat most of them.
The nadir of it all is the stench that lingers long in the mouth and hands when consumed.
Change and innovation can address these disadvantages that blight the chance of our local delicacies to lift their brand value to be at par with other foods that appeal to international palates and tongues.
Poor man's food
Two thousand years ago, Greeks baked a flat disk of bread and used the bread like a plate.
They would first eat the food on top of the bread.
Then they would eat the bread "plate." People then started putting toppings on the bread before it went into the oven.
This was an early form of what we eat as pizza today.
Many centuries later in Italy, people also ate a form of pizza.
It is important to note that it was considered as a food for the poor not different from the way we consider most of our local foods.
Working-class people of Naples had short breaks for meals.
They need cheap food that can be eaten quickly. Pizza made by local vendors was a perfect solution. It could be eaten without plates and forks.
This brings to mind "Kofi Brookman" (Daily Graphic - December 22, 2002), a roasted plantain with roasted groundnut to boost, a local delicacy wearing the tag of a poor man's food yet favourite of most office workers in the city.
Margherita
In 1889, Queen Margherita and King Umberto (l) of Italy took a vacation in the seaside town of Naples, Italy.
The Queen saw people strolling outside eating pizza.
She wanted to try one.
Raffaele Esposito was a popular pizza maker in town and was chosen to make the pizza for the Queen. Esposito wanted his pizza to be extra special. So he made a pizza using the colours of the Italian flag, red green and white.
Red tomatoes, green basil (a herb) and white mozzarella cheese went on his patriotic pizza.
Esposito baked his creation and delivered it to the Queen. She loved it. She sent a note of praise and thanks.
Raffaele named his pizza margherita in honour of the Queen. Soon everyone wanted to try it.
International appeal
Around that time, workers began leaving Italy to live in America.
Pizza bakers brought their talent and recipes with them.
It became popular with American workers too.
Early pizzerias had no chairs. People just went in, ordered their pizza and left with it. It was tasty and easy to eat on the go.
Before long, pizza was one of the most popular foods in America.
The extension of its popularity onto our shores is a testament to its international appeal.
Our sense of “tradition” does not help in building a brand value around our local dishes.
Revising our concept of tradition to make it recognise and embrace change and innovation can help build the brand value of our local foods into international standards, just like pizza.
