Minister Barbara Rwodzi and her Deputy Tongai Mnangagwa, talk to one of the contestants Caroline Mauzeni
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
The Harare Province Amai’s Traditional Cook-Out Competition, lived up to its billing as 43 contestants, comprising of 33 females and 10 males, battled it out on Wednesday at Belvedere Teachers College.
The Traditional Cook-Out Competition, which is a brainchild of First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, is meant to promote the uptake of indigenous dishes and ensure citizens benefit from their nutritional value and medicinal properties.
The contestants were split into three categories, Community (25 participants who included persons living with disability), Students (10 participants) and Professionals (8 participants) and three winners were chosen from each category.
After the Harare Province edition, the competition will move to other provinces, before national finals which have been slated for May 25.
Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Barbara Rwodzi, who was the guest of honour, said the competition was in line with “President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030, to see that Zimbabwe becomes an upper middle income economy or upper middle income society.”
She said: “the President’s Vision is for everyone, so we should be positive about it that Zimbabwe shall be an upper middle income society.
“We should not wallow in poverty and I know many will ask how will we reach that vision and I will tell you, we are doing it, as we do our work, as we do what we are doing today, we are in-line with that vision.”
She added that the First Lady as the Patron of Tourism, was first to understand the President’s vision and she introduced the concept of gastronomy tourism into the country.
Gastronomy tourism, also known as food tourism or culinary tourism, refers to travelling to experience and explore the local cuisine and food culture of a destination.
“When the First Lady started this initiative, many didn’t really understand it, as she was urging people to go back to our roots, to re-introduce our traditional foods.
“So such efforts have made us to appreciate our traditional foods for their nutritional and medicinal value.
“The First Lady then advised us that the Cook-Out competitions were part of gastronomy tourism so she asked us to look more into that and we did just that.
“So we want people to visit us for our traditional food and drinks and we should be known for that and be proud of that.
“And I’m happy to say that as we are doing this, we are creating employment for everyone who is involved in the value chain and with this, we are confirming that Vision 2030 is attainable through tourism,” added Minister Rwodzi.
She also revealed that it was vital to work with people in the communities, in-line with Agenda 2063, including them in the value chain of tourism.
“We are also now pushing to promote gastronomy tourism along with township tourism so as to increase the value chain.
“When we visit some of these popular places, we are in two sectors of tourism, so we need to let our visitors know that we have so much to offer, we want to brand Zimbabwe as the destination of choice.”
Minister Barbara Rwodzi greets Vanicolla Chambwera
One male contestant Vanicolla Chambwera, said the Traditional Cook-Out competition was important because it helps with nutritional diets because of the value addition processes.
“We have so many products that can make wonderful dishes so this competition helps us to appreciate that.
“And being a man contesting in this competition is really a good experience. Yes we have more women here because they have more traditional gender roles but some men can also cook.
“You can see with many big food industries, in most cases men are actually making the biggest number.
“This is a good life skill for men and you get so much experience and it also helps with patience and being creative.
“And it’s also good because these foods are helping people because of the medicinal benefits.
“When you eat traditional food, there are so many health benefits, you live long, so I’m happy to be playing my part in preparing such,” said Chambwera.
One of the winners, Caroline Mauzeni, could not hide her joy as she said though it was her first time to enter the competition, she had been encouraged to do more.
And before the adjudication began, Mauzeni had shared on her hope of winning.
“I’m so happy with the achievement, I came here just to compete without thinking that I would win.
“So this win just gave me so much confidence to say I can do it, so indeed I shall push more and see where my culinary skills can take me,” said Mauzeni.
Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Tongai Mnangagwa, and other guests including students from several institutions, attended the event.
