A Weekend of Ghanaian Food Festivals: Consolidating the Gains and Improving the Shortfalls

Local cuisines play significant roles in attracting tourists to destinations. As a result, several food festivals have emerged around the world, particularly because of the increasing interest and growth in food tourism (Williams, Williams Jr and Omar, 2014). Mention can be made of the “Italian Cuisines Week”, “Taste of Malaysia Festival”, “Taiwan Culinary Exhibition”, Oktoberfest, Germany, and Tulum Taste of Mexico, among others. In Africa, the “Logos Food Festival”, “Nairobi Restaurant Week”, “Letlhafula Food Festival” in Botswana can be cited.

In Ghana, since the first edition of the Kenkey Festival in March 2016, a number of other food festivals have emerged and prominent among them is the Fufu Festival. After a 2-year break as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions, the 6^th edition of the Kenkey Festival was organised on Saturday 4^th March 2023, at Mantse Agbona, Jamestown, Accra, and for the first time, Gↄbε Festival was also organised at Tetteh Quarshie Interchange, Accra, and Waakye Summit at Mmofra Place, Dzorwulu and also on the 6^th of March, Akple Festival was also organised at the same venue. I must say that I attended all three festivals on Saturday and had a good time and more importantly, made some observations that will help improve and sustain the food festivals to achieve gastronomic results.

The Gains

Attendance at all the festivals was great. As argued by Bestor (2014), the aim of gastronomic events is to promote local public participation, domestic consumption, and tourism, to generate social support that can be used to attract international tourists. It is satisfying to see people from different parts of the country travel to Accra to celebrate and enjoy Ghanaian culinary art. In fact, several radio personalities, celebrities, and other influential people attended the festivals. Indeed, a study by Smith and Fink (2015) indicates that influential people have the power of compliance to advocacy messages. As influential personalities attend these events and help in the promotion of the food festivals, some sections of the public may develop an interest in these food festivals because their favourite public personalities are also attending.

Also, the packaging and hygiene of the cuisines were generally good. The cultural makeup of cuisines does not only include the ingredients and the methods of cooking, but also how they are served and eaten. At the Kenkey Festival, some vendors served the kenkey in earthenware bowls (asanka) to further depict authentic Ghanaian culinary culture. Furthermore, vendors at the Gↄbε and Waakye Festival served their various recipes on environmentally sustainable green leaves which will help reduce plastic waste pollution.

Also, the exhibition and sale of local drinks such as asana, sobolo, and palm wine, among others are also laudable as it goes a long way to promote the consumption of authentic locally-made beverages.

The Shortfalls

 The main challenge cited by the majority of the people I engaged at the festivals was the cost of the food. The food at the Kenkey and Waakye Summit, to their estimation, was too expensive. Also, while attendance at the Kenkey Festival was free, a ball of kenkey and fish which is sold for Ghc3 and Ghc5 on a normal day was sold for Ghc5 and Ghc10 respectively. An egg was sold for Ghc5 at almost all the festivals. The Situation at the Waakye Summit was more serious. One is expected to pay an entrance fee of Ghc20 and needs between Ghc40 to Ghc60 to buy Waakye with other accompaniments. Surprisingly, Akple Festival was organised at the same venue and a gate fee of Ghc30 and Ghc50 was charged. Some vendors indicated that they were charged some amounts of money for their stands so they had to increase the price of the foods in order not to run at a loss. Their justification for the pricing of the food comes as a call to organisers and other stakeholders to explore possible measures to put in place to reduce the cost of the food during food festivals. This is important because a study by Choe and Kim (2018) analysed comments made by attendants of food events and concluded that people develop positive attitudes toward local food events and are willing to return if they find the price more economical. If we want massive public participation in our food festivals, then the price of the foods must be reasonable to enable people from all economic backgrounds to buy them.

Furthermore, from observation, it appeared that organising three food festivals concurrently had some negative impact on the festivals. The Waakye and Gↄbε festivals seemed to have more sponsorship more from major companies such as Malta Guinness Ghana and Maggi Ghana, while the was no major sponsorship for the Kenkey Fest. One of the organisers of the Kenkey Fest indicated that some companies who agreed to sponsor them failed to turn up on the day of the festival but rather went to the other two festivals. More so, there was little education on the historical and cultural background of the foods during the festivals. As argued by Haynes (2015), local foods are essential elements of local culture. Food festivals represent the cultural, educational, and leisure resources of an area (Haynes, 2015). Organisers should, therefore, make it a point to educate attendees on the historical and cultural backgrounds of the foods as it will go a long way to help promote and sustain the culinary culture of the country.

Finally, although there was some publicity of the festival on radio and social media, it appears that they were largely confined to the capital city. Gↄbε Festival seemed to be the most publicised of the four festivals probably because of 3FM’s national coverage. There is a need for more publicity, especially on Social Media platforms to ensure more public participation in the festivals.

Going Forward

 The idea to promote Ghanaian cuisine through food festivals is commendable as it provides a huge platform for the celebration of Ghanaian culinary heritage. However, going forward, there is a need for the Ghana Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to engage and support the organisers of the various festivals to explore the possibility of organising a nationwide annual Ghanaian Cuisine Week within which the various food festivals would be organised across all the regional capitals. It is likely that other food festivals are going to come up and considering the variety of local cuisines we have in Ghana, it will be practically impossible to allocate days for all food festivals in the future. That is why Ghanaian Cuisines Week seems the best approach. The Ministries and other stakeholders can secure a venue, for example, Black Star Square for the week-long Ghanaian cuisines week where various local cuisines would be exhibited and sold at reasonable prices for the attendees. This will bring varieties of local cuisines under one umbrella to celebrate and promote the culinary culture of various ethnic groups in the country.

Also, Ghanaian missions abroad should also be encouraged to organise food exhibitions and other food-related events during the Ghanaian Cuisines Week to promote Ghanaian culinary culture to foreign nationals. The Ghanaian Cuisines Week will not only help to promote varieties of local foods but will also help to promote other local foods that are not very popular. Furthermore, it will also help to generate local public support that can be used to attract tourists from within and outside the country. Food has become an important instrument of soft power that is used to attract people to destinations and food festivals are some of the ways by which food soft power is employed. More importantly, food festivals help in the sustainability and projection of a country’s culinary heritage. Therefore, a proper understanding of food soft power will help stakeholders to employ it effectively to achieve the intended results. Perhaps these food festivals may be our new source of tourist attraction.

Samuel Nani

Researcher in food diplomacy

Email: samuel.nani@stu.ucc.edu.gh

Phone: 0247153586

References

Bestor, T. (2014). Most Favoured Nation Status: The Gastrodiplomacy of Japan’s Global Promotion of Cuisine. Public Diplomacy Magazine, 59-62.

Choe, J. Y. J., & Kim, S. S. (2018). Effects of tourists’ local food consumption value on attitude, food destination image, and behavioral intention. International journal of hospitality management, 71, 1-10.

Haynes, N. (2015). Food fairs and festivals. The SAGE encyclopedia of food issues, 565-569.

Smith, R. A. & Fink, E. L. (2015). Understanding the influential people and social structures shaping compliance. Journal of Social Structure, 16(4), 1-15.

Williams, H. A., Williams Jr, R. L., & Omar, M. (2014). Gastro-tourism as destination branding in emerging markets. International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 4(1), 1-18.