TaTU Dept of Hospitality, Tourism holds 18th exhibition

The Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) at Tama­le Technical Uni­versity (TaTU) has held its 18th annual exhibition and practical project showcasing the potential of its final year students.

The event, held under the theme “Culinary Capital: Innovating with Ghana’s Local Foods for Health, Wealth and Tourism” directly to the intersection of knowledge, innovation, culture and economic development and also harnessing the potential of the graduates to industry stakeholders and the broader community.

The exhibition featured a range of products created by final-year students, including pastries, canned-goods, soft drinks, cooked foods, grains, and other items.

It brought together various university departments, univer­sity management and industry stakeholders to evaluate the stu­dents’ potential and discuss the need for collective responsibility in fostering sustainable practices within the industry.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dame Mrs Matilda Zenabu Pipio Eib, Chief Executive Officer of By Faith Catering Services said, Ghana produces cassava, yam, plantain, maize, millet, sorghum, vegetables, fruits and fish in abundance but still lose so much to inadequate processing, weak packaging, poor preservation and limited innovation.

“The foods of the North remain the least celebrated and least commercialized. Not because they lack value, but because we have not showcased them boldly enough. That is why I organized a food bazaar in Accra dedicated entirely to northern cuisine to create awareness and to give small businesses a platform to shine. Culinary capital becomes wealth only when the people who hold it are empowered to benefit from it, she said.

She encouraged the graduates to endeavour to ad value to their products to meet the standard of the market.

The Head of the Department of Ecotourism and Hospitality at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Prof Raymond Adongo said, there has been a renaissance of local foods because of their nutritional and health benefits of which many local foods have been found to be more nutritionally balanced and contribute to healthier living.

However, urbanization and globalization are resulting in taste for foreign foods with attendant health implications, especially from processed foods, he said.

According to him, research shows that local dishes often use produce such as fresh fish and lean meats instead of heavy red or processed meats which makes them healthier and local herbs and spices like ginger, garlic, and hot peppers contain helpful anti-inflammatory properties.

Globally, culinary tourism contributes over $ 1.24 trillion to the global economy and that the continue consuming of the local foods contribute to economic growth, he said.

Aside from the nutritional benefits of our local food, our local food is also our cultural identity. When two cultures meet, the first three things that are likely to be most noticeable are language, clothing and food, he noted.

“Events like this help us appreciate the ingenuity and innovative prowess of the youth of this country especially in the area of catering, hospitality and tourism. The Guinea fowl Bazaar by By Faith Restaurant shows what we can achieve when we get creative with our local food.”, he said

It is time to choose our local drinks like poya, zonkom, sobolo, asana, and foods such as tubani, nyonbaka, wasawasa, acheke, among others as opposed to fizzy drinks and processed foods from outside the country, he stressed.

He said, the hygiene and sanitation levels of production, packaging and service of food need to be improved.

Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology at TaTU Prof. Abukari Abdul Aziz Danaa said, Ghana is richly endowed with indigenous foods and culinary traditions.

The opportunity before us is to move beyond simply consuming these resources and explore how science, technology, creativity and entrepreneurship can transform them into value for better health, wealth creation, employment and tourism, he said.

As a faculty we are committed to applying knowledge and practical innovation in nurturing the younger generation, he said.