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26.05.2016 Diaspora News

Chef Francis Otoo Returns Ghana To Embassy Chef Challenge In DC

By Oral Ofori/TheAfricanDream.net
Chef Francis Otoo Returns Ghana To Embassy Chef Challenge In DC
26.05.2016 LISTEN

Chef Francis Otoo of Ghana on May 26, 2016 registered a participation spot for Ghana at the prestigious Embassy Chef Challenge (ECC) competition at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC, USA.

The renowned Ghanaian chef, who also made it to the 2015 edition of the event said he felt very honored to have made it in 2016 too, adding that it was such a privilege to share Ghanaian cuisine with the world from within the American capital.

“Washington DC is known globally for its political clout and highly cosmopolitan environment, so getting this unique opportunity to share my cooking talents with the people here makes me very excited because people from all over the world gathered here get to taste a little bit of Ghana trough our efforts” said chef Otoo of his team at the event.

Francis Otoo on Embassy Chef Challenge
Chef Claude Tayag; Philippine native and first time ever participant, clinched the People's Choice Award while Chef Creig Greenridge from Barbados emerged the Judges Award Winner. “Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Philippines and Barbados for coming out as respective winners of the 2016 edition” — chef Otoo said in acknowledgment of the efforts of his colleague chefs.

The tall Ghanaian chef who said “In 2015 I had the honor of flying the flag of Africa with Chef Zodwa Sikakane from South Africa” was also very proud of the other African representatives at the 2016 ECC, notably the presence of the island nation of Mauritius and landlocked country of Rwanda, both of which are respectively located in east Africa all formed part of the 18 chefs at the event.

The rest of the 18 participating chefs at the 2016 event were from the British Virgin Islands, Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Like Ghana, the Washington DC based chefs of El Salvador, Indonesia and Guatemala who were all at the 2015 event also returned to participate in the 2016 edition. Haiti, Jamaica, Nepal, Poland, Qatar and Uzbekistan were also present.

Francis Otoo over the last two decades has spent the his time on advancing his culinary skills. His expertise have seen him cook and serve in embassies around the world with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jerry John Rawlings of the USA and Ghana respectively, and other prominent persons like Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa being part of the many he has cooked for.

Embassy Chef Challenge, an annual international cooking challenge and cultural event where embassies choose a chef to create a dish from their national cuisine is a 'Cultural Tourism DC' event to celebrate the cooking talents of Washington DC’s embassy chefs.

Find out more about the ECC at www.eventsdcembassychefchallenge.com

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