‘Eat our food while here’
It was like a mini United Nations summit as representatives from various diplomatic missions in Ghana gathered at the Trafix Restaurant in Accra last Tuesday, September 29 to taste Ghanaian dishes and drinks.
Advertisement
They were there at the invitation of Mrs Bella Ahu, CEO of Trafix Catering Services with the blessing and support of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts.
The evening was dubbed Trafix Finger Foods Extravaganza and the guests came from countries including Gambia, Equitorial Guinea, Senegal, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Niger, South Africa, Swizerland, Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Zimbabwe, France and Morocco.
There were also folks from United Nations agencies and Ghanaian tourism outfits and they were treated to tasty Ghanaian dishes like suya (beef khebab), kelewele, alele (from beans), masaaz (from rice), tubani (from beans), spicy octopus, oysters and kose (beans).
For drinks, the guests had copious amounts of fresh coconuts, palm wine, pito, brukutu, asana and fresh pineapple and watermelon juices to quaff with music from Ghana Dance Ensemble and Pan-African Youth Orchestra in the background.
Welcoming the guests, Mrs Ahu said the idea behind the gathering was to introduce the diplomatic community here to the variety of delicious finger foods that abound in this country and urge them to put such foods on their menus when they hold events.
“We want you to have the presence of Ghana in your countries as you are here, through our cuisine,” Mrs Ahu said.
The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Ms Dzifa Gomashie, said it was time to promote Ghanaian food on a different level and supported the idea of encouraging the diplomatic and general expatriate communities to acquire taste for Ghanaian dishes.
Mrs Claudia Quintero Torbay, the Colombian Ambassador to Ghana and the Zimbabwean High Commissioner, Mrs. Pavelyn Musaka, also spoke at the function and promised to help popularise Ghanaian dishes among their colleague diplomats.