First Lady towers high at second UN Tourism Forum on Gastronomy for Africa

Tendai Rupapa in ARUSHA, Tanzania

ZIMBABWE’S tourism and hospitality industry patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa recently shone like a beacon at the Second United Nations Tourism Forum for Africa underway here as the world recognised in awe her efforts to empower communities, promote nutrition and create employment through tourism development.

Dr Mnangagwa, who was invited by UN Tourism to be the guest speaker at the event which was officially opened by Tanzanian vice President Dr Philip Isdor Mpango, received special mention as a godmother of Gastronomy in Africa.

People were awestruck that a simple idea conceived by Dr Mnangagwa through her traditional meal cook-out competitions had grown exponentially and received international acclaim to be included on the annual United Nations calendar of events. The traditional meal cook-out programme started from the fields when the First Lady gave traditional grains and vegetable combo seeds to chiefs’ wives to distribute to women in their communities for planting.

It then escalated to wards, district, national, regional and international levels, culminating in this gastronomy forum for Africa in honour of her hard work.

She came up with this vision after a realisation that the country’s culture and traditions were gradually being eroded due to cultural dilution.

The shift from organic, traditional foods to fast food consumption was not only contributing to a rise in diet-related ailments but also threatening the rich culinary heritage.

This is the second time the forum has been held on African soil after the inaugural one in Zimbabwe in July last year in honour of Amai Mnangagwa’s exploits in promoting the tourism brand with gastronomy tourism capturing the imagination of the world.

On display at the forum were countless mouthwatering dishes from various African countries in a celebration of African unity and mutual communion.

Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sierra Leon, Nigeria, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were among countries represented at the showcase.

People fell over one another keen to sample deftly prepared and well-packaged dishes on the Zimbabwe stand.

The country’s vast array of vegetables that are rich in vitamins and medicinal properties left guests asking for more as others sought for recipes to learn how the rich nourishing food of Zimbabwean origin is prepared.

Earlier, Dr Mnangagwa and the Tanzanian vice President held wide-ranging discussions on how to strengthen gastronomy tourism in Africa.

In her keynote speech, Dr Mnangagwa said she was indeed humbled and honoured to be given the opportunity to deliver her speech at the Second edition of the UN Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Tourism for Africa.

“This signifies the important role Africa plays in promoting gastronomy tourism. This forum brings together diverse minds and experts to dialogue on matters of growing the gastronomy tourism sector, contributing to a positive impact on the economic well-being of communities. As such, we are all being challenged to tap into benefits accruing from gastronomy tourism, a pillar for socio-economic development of nations,” she said.

Globally, Dr Mnangagwa said, Gastronomy tourism was recognised as a catalyst for economic development and community empowerment, as well as a pillar for poverty alleviation.

“It is characterised by job creation, income generation and fostering strategic partnerships along the value chain, thereby building a robust economic ecosystem in our societies. In addition, gastronomy tourism is a vital cog for inclusive growth, presenting a unique opportunity to promote sustainable development, preserve cultural heritage, and empower local communities across the continents.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Tanzania is hosting the second edition of UN Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Tourism for Africa today after Zimbabwe successfully hosted the inaugural forum in 2024. I would like to congratulate Tanzania for taking over the relay stick and successfully organising this important event,” she said.

The mother of the nation shared how she started the concept in Zimbabwe back in 2019.

“I penned the concept of gastronomy tourism in Zimbabwe in 2019. The shift from organic, traditional foods to fast food consumption was not only contributing to a rise in diet-related ailments but also threatening our rich culinary heritage. This legacy, passed down by our forefathers, is a vital part of our identity and must be preserved and celebrated for future generations.

“In view of this, I then rolled out traditional cookout competitions in all the country’s 10 provinces in Zimbabwe. When the programme started, it was mainly female- dominated, but today males, churches, chiefs’ wives, students, universities, inmates, people with disabilities, hotels and restaurant chefs have joined the race, demonstrating their ability to prepare amazing dishes,” she said.

The programme, the First Lady said, was then elevated to Sadc regional gastronomy tourism competitions in May 2023 and the event attracted several countries within the SADC region and beyond. Countries had the opportunity to showcase unique dishes common in their countries.

“The event was also attended by UN tourism representatives and we were grateful for this goodwill gesture. In the spirit of inclusivity, the cookout competitions are now carried out in many categories, leaving no one and no place behind.

“The competitions presented an opportunity for participants to share their knowledge and expertise in preparing traditional dishes and yearly we witnessed improved innovative ways of preparing nutritious dishes among our participants.

“Since its inception, the programme has nurtured men, women and youths who have gone regional and international, exporting their products. some have formed businesses where they supply traditional foods to a number of companies and organisations in Zimbabwe. The demand for traditional dishes has grown significantly attracting health enthusiasts and local, regional and international communities.

“Most of our hotels and restaurants are now serving local cuisine, alongside the western meals providing a wide variety to customers. The communities are the main primary suppliers of traditional ingredients and have become a source of income generation to them. This contributes significantly to our national vision of attaining “an upper middle-income society by 2030.”

Zimbabwe, Dr Mnangagwa highlighted, has been invited to a number of regional and international fora to showcase local cuisine alongside main events and this has contributed immensely to the exposure of the Zimbabwean food in foreign markets.

“This is inseparable from the demand for national fabric that I also introduced with significant designs defining our heritage and who we are as Zimbabweans, as such, we have increased the distribution of the national fabric, locally and internationally through our embassies.

“Ladies and gentlemen, to ensure the sustainability of the gastronomy tourism programme in Zimbabwe, I have introduced Agric4she programme, where we are encouraging women and youths to grow traditional grains and venture into projects thereby providing key ingredients for preparing Zimbabwean dishes. Additionally, I introduced the farm-to-market programme where I have encouraged communities and farmers to participate in showcasing a variety of products from their fields. The cookout programme is in line with our philosophy to promote heritage-based tourism where we encourage our people to safeguard jealously our culture and traditions. In this regard, I introduced a programme for boys and girls called Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba forum, where trainings are centred on encouraging youths to uphold their cultural norms and values. This seeks to complement the cookout programme, particularly in instilling the concept at a tender age and to overcome drug and substance abuse which has become rampant among our youths,” she said.

The First Lady said Zimbabwe had taken gastronomy tourism as a pillar for socio-economic development and had received significant support from Government. “As a result, we have witnessed the growth of the tourism sector contributing 12 percent to the Gross domestic tourism product (GDP) in 2024. For the first time, it has surpassed key economic sectors like agriculture and mining. Ladies and gentlemen, with Zimbabwe and Tanzania hosting the UN Tourism regional forum on gastronomy tourism for Africa, we are happy indeed that, the forum is now on UN Tourism calendar as an annual event hosted by African countries on a rotational basis. With the support that we are getting from UN Tourism, it is our hope that Africa will be a gastronomy tourism hub where we showcase the taste of Africa to the whole world.

“As I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity, once again, to thank the UN Tourism secretary-general Mr Zurab Pololikashvili and his team for the tremendous efforts you are making to ensure Africa remains on the map in promoting gastronomy tourism. I would also like to thank the Government of Tanzania for the great hospitality and for successfully hosting the 2nd edition of the UN Tourism Regional Forum Gastronomy Tourism for Africa. To fellow participants let us embrace the gastronomy tourism concept and reap its benefits for the good our nations,“ she said.

UN Tourism Secretary-general Mr Pololikashvili made heads turn in the auditorium when he spoke glowingly of the First Lady’s contributions in the tourism sector. “We are happy that the First Lady of Zimbabwe Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa is here with us today. She is the godmother of gastronomy tourism. She created a new page in the history of tourism in Africa and I am very honoured and very pleased to be a part of this history, I would say.

“After 10, 20, 30 years, we will see the people start talking about African food. We are talking about a 1.5 billion population, about 54 countries with diverse different cultures. Unfortunately, African culture is not as well presented outside of the continent. And we are committed and we will continue this series of activities. And that’s why this conference is important,” he said.

Director General Basque Culinary Centre Mr Joxe Mari Aizega concurred with the First Lady saying gastronony indeed connects people with culture and traditions.

Chef Tom Owino from Tanzania was at a loss for words. “We commend The initiative which the First Lady did of bringing chefs together with the common goal of creating African cuisine, as chefs this is one of the things that we loved. We believe that this is the biggest initiative that all the chefs from Africa should embrace and make sure that we carry it to the final end of making sure that the dream of all the African chefs should be to be on the international table. The First Lady spoke about enabling the local community which is one of the essence of Africanness to be able to help one another to produce, share and be proud of African cuisine.”

Zimbabwean chef Koke Thomas Gamani highlighted the sweetness of the menu he prepared.

He proved his mettle to the delight of guests and his colleagues from the region.

“On our menu, we have prepared food like baobab moose which people are coming back for and they love it because it’s natural. The baobab moose is prepared with honey, not sugar so they are really amazed with our creativity. We have mushrooms with the base of chillies and cheese topping. We also have jam combot and we have made a sauce out of it. We have our usual traditional cuisine like rupiza, highfiridzi and different types of vegetables some in peanut butter. We have made ‘samp in peanut butter’, we also have sadza and we are serving this with beef fillet with garlic chives and honey tamarin sauce that people love,” he said.

Dagmar Gruner from Namibia was over the moon and thanked Dr Mnangagwa for her interventions and vision. “We actually want to thank the First Lady of Zimbabwe for taking this initiative because I think it’s a great one to help the countries establish how great gastronomy can be. As it has been mentioned in the conference earlier, it actually helps to diversify the countries and the different cuisines that we have and what the countries have to offer. So with all that said, we are excited to be here as Namibia. We are from the Namibian University of Science and Technology,” she said, adding that the forum helped people appreciate food consumed in other countries and share experiences. A documentary detailing Dr Mnangagwa’s breathtaking gastronomy initiatives was beamed at the Forum, giving the world a glimpse into what she is doing in promoting gastronomy tourism.

After seeing the initiatives she is implementing in promoting the growth of the tourism sector, through the documentary, guests were awestruck and showered praises on the First Lady whom they said was setting a good example. – Herald