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

Local cuisines play significant roles in attracting tourists to destinations. As result, a number
of 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”, “Nirobi Restaurant Week”, “Letlhafula Food Festival” in Botswana
can be cited.
In Ghana, since the first edition of the Kenkey Festival in March 2015, a number of other
food festivals have emerged and prominent among them is the Fufu Festival. After a 3-years
break as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions, the 6 th edition of the Kenkey Festival was
organised on Saturday 4th March 2023, at Mantse Agona, Jamestown, Accra, and for the first
time, Yↄ ke Gari Festival (Gↄbε Festival) was also organised at Tetteh Quarshie Interchange,
Accra, and Shinkafa da Wake Festival at Mmofra Place, Dzorwulo 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, in order
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, a number of radio personalities, celebrities and other influential people
were present at the festivals. Indeed, a study by Smith and Fink (2015) confirms 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.
 Picture credit: Richard Dablah

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 Yↄ ke Gari and Waakye Festival served their various recipes on environmentally
sustainable green leaves which will help reduce plastic waste pollution.

Picture Credit: Joel Asante

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 Festival, 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 is sold for Ghc5 and Ghc10 respectively.
An egg was sold for Ghc5 at almost all the festivals. The Situation at the Waakye Festival
was much 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 there was no gate fee. Some vendors indicated that there
were charged undisclosed amounts of money for the stands so they have to increase the price
of the foods in order to not run at a loss. Their justification for the pricing of the food comes
as a call on 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 be 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 so that people from all economic backgrounds can
buy them. Food soft power is socially generated so until we are able to generate the needed
public support for the food festivals, we may not be able to achieve the needed gastronomic
results.
Furthermore, from observation, it appears that organising three food festivals concurrently
has some negative impact on the festivals. The Waakye and Yↄ ke Gari festivals seem to have
sponsorship from major companies such as Malta Guinness Ghana, Maggi Ghana, and Bel-
Aqua among others 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 the (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. Yↄ ke Gari Festival seemed to be
the most publicised of the four festivals probably because of 3FM’s national outreach. There
is a need for more publicity, especially on Social Media platforms to ensure more public
participation in the festivals.
Where Do We Go from Here?
The idea to promote Ghanaian cuisine through food festivals is commendable as it provides
provide 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. 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, Independence Square for the week-long Ghanaian cuisines week where various
local cuisines would be exhibited and sold at a reasonable price 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
art 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 festivals are important tools in
Gastrodiplomacy that are employed to attract people to a destination and also an instrument
for projecting a country’s culinary heritage. Therefore, a proper understanding of this practice
will help stakeholders to employ it effectively to achieve the intended results.
By Samuel Nani
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.