Spain brings int’l chef, others to deliver masterclass sessions at NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival
[By VICTOR NZE]
Diplomats attached to the Embassy of Spain in Nigeria have confirmed their participation at this year’s NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival.
This is also as the country’s envoy in the country has confirmed the participation of one its renowned chef to undertake masterclass sessions at the event billed for Abuja, next month.
This will be the Spanish Embassy’s consecutive appearance at the crowd-pulling food festival – which is emerging as one of the fastest growing food festivals in Africa.
Spanish Government’s Consul in Abuja, Patricia Gomez Lanzaco, confirmed to the Director General of NIHOTOUR, Nura Sani Kangiwa, last Friday, May 26, that the embassy will also increase its participation in the annual Gastronomy Festival.
The culinary fiesta is billed for the Abuja International Conference Centre, May 17, with confirmed participation of countries drawn from the Caribbean and West Africa, in attendance.
It would be recalled that the Spanish Embassy’s cuisines exhibition stand, during the 2022 NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival, was one of the most visited by food sampling participants at the Gastronomy Festival in Abuja.
Specifically, Patricia Lanzaco said the Spanish Embassy will be inviting and sponsoring a renown Spanish Chef to come to Nigeria for the festival, as well as, to deliver masterclasses on ‘emerging best practices in Culinary Arts’ to groups of Nigerian Catering and Culinary Schools.
Remarking, Kangiwa, appreciated the Spanish Embassy’s gesture, as he lauded the technical support provided by the Spanish government towards success of the Gastronomy Festival.
“We are most grateful to the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria and, equally excited at the support the Spanish government is providing to NIHOTOUR, especially relating to the festival.
“Such technical support of bringing Spanish Culinary Arts experts, all the way from Spain, to train Nigerian catering and culinary schools, is hitherto, unparalleled and predictably transformative for Nigerian hospitality industry and food culture.”
“Suffice to say, the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria is inexplicably contributing to putting Nigerian cuisines on the global gastronomy tourism map.
“As a matter of fact, since I became the DG of NIHOTOUR, my goal has been to deepen the knowledge and technical capacity of personnel in culinary schools, catering enterprises and the tourism industry across Nigeria,” Kangiwa said.
The NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival is conceptualised and programmed to upskill Nigerian gastronomes and culinary artists on the technicalities, and emerging global best practices in processing, preparing, presenting, packaging and promotion of foods, especially Nigerian traditional cuisines.
Since NIHOTOUR’s announcement of the dates and venue of this year’s Gastronomy Festival, a number of countries and Nigerian food brands have confirmed their participation to showcase their national cuisines and beverages.
These include; China, Trinidad & Tobago, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire, in addition to international brands like Nigerian allied-food and beverage brands including Dano Milk Danone and Delifrost.
Kangiwa, however, expressed confident that more foreign embassies in Nigeria and, leading food and beverage brands, ‘will partake to showcase their brands at the festival.’
