Chefs, Food Enthusiasts, Bloggers, Vendors, Farmers, and Government representatives led by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, have converged on the Muri Okunola Park in Victoria Island for the 2023 Lagos Food Fest with the theme: “A Fusion of Flavours.
Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, who was accompanied by the Secretary to the State Government, Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, Commissioner of Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, and other top government functionaries toured the market exhibition where vendors displayed food items including finger foods, drinks, mocktails, spices, fresh seafood, farm produce before participating in a cooking exercise with chef Gibbs preparing a dish of Mac and Cheese infused with Nnkwobi a local delicacy from the Igbo Tribe of Eastern Nigeria.
Hamzat noted that the event is an avenue to showcase the talents of young people in a manner that will enhance revenue generation both for them and the state government. He said talents will not amount to anything if the bearers cannot look inward and provide solutions to problems within their communities.
”So they are looking inward to say how we can add value and be successful. That is what I see here, prosperity, ingenuity, innovation, and the spirit of Lagos.
“So my charge to everybody is let’s look at what we can do to add value when you do that, the society gets better and you get better yourself and we can improve this country and that for me is what this event is all about. You can see that every year it’s changing, even the demographics of people coming the first year there are lots of older people, this year you can see lots of younger people.
Chef Gibbs, who spoke while making the fusion dish with the Deputy Governor of Lagos explained that using penne pasta, cheese, and other spices while infusing it with the locally sourced Nnkwobi demonstrated Lagos is a melting pot of culture and that it is possible to infuse flavours from different cultures to make remarkable dishes.
Blacktaker reports that the 2023 Lagos Food Fest, the fourth in its series, is an initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture. Described as the biggest food festival in the state, the event had in attendance Guinness World Record holder, Hilda Baci, Guinness World Record Strategist, Chef Gibbs, Legendary singer, 2baba, Mavins Record singer, Crayon, Fuji Singer, Adewale Ayuba among others turning up the flavours and the beat amid cooking competitions, laughter, bonding, and a festive mood.