Meat Pies and Puff Puff to Flood Abuja

The annual Nigerian International Food Fair is set to take place this year on May 1st and 2nd, at the Abuja Arts and Crafts market. Mrs. Shimite Katung, who is with the African Pot, announced that the first day will feature free food for every fortunate participant in the event, while the Second day will primarily be for catering businesses to be set up stands and reach out to their targeted demographic.

The organizers of the event have certain wishes on their agenda that they wish to impart on the participants that will be representing the business side of the festivity. Some include, identifying your products, recognizing your market, being knowledgeable of the role of food in tourism development, the ability to attain and access finances, and international health standards.

The NIFF coordinator is promoting food as a strong tourism product in Nigeria; her hope is that it can become a strong asset to nation as was the case with Singapore, adding that, "Culinary tourism and agribusiness are the crux of NIFF."

She went on to say that, "The Nigerian International Food Fair aims at highlighting the various business involved in food production, including farming, seed supply, chemical, farm machinery, ready-to-eat meals, processing food, packaging, marketing, exportation, and retail sales of foods."

Also making pre-feast announcements, the representatives of Sonola Foods Limited and Promasidor, Messrs Rajeev Sharma and Jacob Akaade announced that they will be partnering with African Pot on the food fair because of their high hopes for the event.

For Akaade, this will be the third year that he and his company, Onga will be participating in festivity. He also plans to hold a cooking competition and says that every participant will take away a prize, adding that "Onga will celebrate Nigerian cuisine in a big way".

Arrangements are being made to package all of the food that will be provided at the fair now. The majority of the fine food is being prepared in Lagos. As most people know, Nigerians know how to throw parties, so this gala should be held to high expectations. Do not let the business aspects bore you into accepting a false reality that it will drag on and be monotonous. A Nigerian should expect all of the tasty treats and flare that would accompany a naming ceremony or a wedding. Rest assured that the classics such as egusi stew will be there, but the businesses are trying to reach out and take their companies to a global domain, so also expect a few twists and hybrids of the reliable dishes that have always been hits at parties.