Tourism Authority urges hoteliers, restaurants to prioritise indigenous Ghanaian dishes
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has encouraged hoteliers and restaurants operators to prioritise and serve indigenous Ghanaian foods to promote the consumption of these local dishes.
Mrs Folace Ofosuhene-Sintim, the Standard and Quality Assurance Officer at the Bono Regional Office, GTA, who made the call, said besides their high nutritional content and value, indigenous Ghanaian foods reflected the identity of the people.
She expressed worry about how some Ghanaians had developed appetites for foreign foods, delicacies and diets, because the hospitality sector had neglected and replaced these nutritive meals with the “foreign junks”.
Mrs Ofosuhene-Sintim, also the representative of the Bono GTA Ladies Club, gave the encouragement regional launch of the Feast Ghana, a culinary celebration in Sunyani on the theme: “Flavours of Ghana: celebrating Ghana’s cultural diversity through food”.
The launch by Bono Regional Office of the Center for National Culture was in collaboration with the GTA, to promote the consumption of locally prepared food.
Mrs Ofosuhene-Sintim observed that Ghanaians had varieties of local foods which were rich in protein, carbohydrates and other nutrients required to build body’s immunity.
She said hotels and restaurants ought to promote locally prepared diets such as “Etor, Apramprasa, Tuozaafi or Diehuo, Mpotompoto, Konkonte, Nuhuu, Yake Yake, Akankyiee and Etew,” recipes among others at their workplaces.
Mrs Ofosuhene-Sintim said if those diets were well prepared, sauced, packaged and promoted, Ghanaians and even some foreigners would patronise them.
She said many Ghanaians over-depended on foreign foods which mostly contained high cholesterol and fats because the locally prepared dishes were not easily accessible to many of them.
“Sometimes the way and manner they cook or prepare and package the local foods also deter consumers,” she stated, adding that with hotels and restaurants, the local diets would be well prepared to whet the appetite of consumers.”
Mr Emmanuel Ansu, the Bono Regional Director of the CNC, noted that non-communicable diseases had become common nowadays because of the food people eat, and their unhealthy eating lifestyles.
He said studies had shown that locally prepared Ghanaian dishes contained rich nutrients that built body immunity against diseases and advised everybody to patronise local foods.
Mr Francis Kodom, the Deputy Bono Regional Director, Centre for National Culture, advised Ghanaians to cherish and preserve their indigenous foods to maintain their identity.
GNA
