Despite the fact that it was a working day, the ongoing GT Bank Food and Drink Festival recorded a large turnout of guests; food and drink lovers, foo
Despite the fact that it was a working day, the ongoing GT Bank Food and Drink Festival recorded a large turnout of guests; food and drink lovers, food vendors, participants at the master classes etc. on Tuesday April 30th, it’s third day.
Just as with all things Guaranty Trust Bank is involved in, the food event went on smoothly and effortlessly. From the food vendors who had quite a number of well packaged food and drinks on display for the teeming food lovers, to the guests who were all too happy to bu and have a taste of the things on display, to the kids who were all too happy to leave their parent’s side to have a fun filled day at the games arena to the participants who were eager to soak up the knowledge that the facilitators had to share at their master classes – everything went on seamlessly.
Because it was a working day, only two facilitators were penciled down for the master classes with Ghanaian born food blogger and recipe developer, chef Kinorah Awini, kicking it off. Chef Kinorah who made a Ghanaian three course meal (Zobo Pasta, Tigernut Tart and Lemon Grass Fish), proved that she was a master in the game of food blogging and styling with the presentation of the dishes giving it an appealing European feel.
While she demonstrated her cooking with help from some audience members, she found time to also give tips on food styling; a necessary requirement for food bloggers. With a good camera, good and pleasing-to-the eyes props and generally keeping things rustic rather than staged, one can well be on the way to becoming a most sought-after food blogger/stylist.
Kinorah who considers herself to be adventurous with food, says she is passionate about pushing African food to make it as relevant as European food is.
Next was chef Angus Kennedy, a UK leading chocolate expert and author who didn’t exactly make any dish nor chocolate but painstakingly, lectured on how to tell the difference between a good quality chocolate and an inferior one. Of course, he had a few bags of chocolates which he handed out to audience members to help drive home his points.
One of the chocolate bars handed out was his own brand which he made specially for Nigeria thus making it the first time that particular brand of chocolate made its way to Africa.
Some of the things to look out for in identifying a good quality chocolate bar he said were that:
- It should have more cocoa butter
- It should be expensive because of the quantity of cocoa butter used
- It should make a sharp click when it is snapped
- It must smell like butter
- It must have a rich smell
- It must give a kick when bitten into
Like the very charismatic chef Paul Wayne Gregory, another chocolate expert who regaled his audience with some his very amazing works, all done using chocolate, Chef Angus decried the dwindling fortune of cocoa farming in Nigeria especially because Nigeria in the 70s was the leading source of cocoa with over 70% of the cocoa used to make chocolate world wide, coming from Nigeria. He revealed his hopes of seeing cocoa farmers taking the front seat like in the days of yore.
In its fourth edition, the GTBank Food and Drink Festival, organized by leading African financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank plc., has hosted more than 450,000 people, featured dozens of entrepreneurial masterclasses and propelled the businesses of hundreds of ‘Foodpreneurs’.
