“We call upon the Uganda Tourism Board and other stakeholders to support us as we market Uganda and take food tourism to the next level,” Alikuluya said.
Five Ugandan chefs have been nominated to compete in the annual Waffest, a prominent food festival in West Africa.
These are Ben Isingoma, an executive chef with Romeos Restaurant Ltd and proprietor of Food Chronicles Ltd plus The Food and The Smoke, Emmanuel Simiyu, a Sous chef at Fairway Hotel and Haruna Magala, the director at Ginnello Pizzeria in Entebbe.
Others are Chef Sheila Ahabwe, the director of Vine Kitchen, and Andrew Alikuluya, an executive chef at Extreme Adventure Park, Busiika.
Alikuluya, who is also the acting president of the Uganda Professional Chefs Union (UPCU) says, they were excited to receive the invitation from the organisers of Waffest who also nominated five competitors to participate in the cooking challenge.
“This will be the first of its kind for our country. We are fired up to explore the cooking activity as a sport and tourist attraction,” he said.
Ahabwe is quick to add that they will showcase Uganda’s culinary industry and unique traditional foods such as esh abwe, luwombo, katogo, omugoyo, and mukene.
Alikuluya says cooking is one of the trending tourist activities and that it should be exploited and marketed well.
“We call upon the Uganda Tourism Board and other stakeholders to support us as we market Uganda and take food tourism to the next level,” he says.
The food festival is organised by Nigeria, however, it keeps rotating in different countries and attracts chefs from all over Africa.
This time it will take place at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Nigeria from August 9-14.
There will be indigenous food displays, exhibitions, city and industrial tours, competitions, master classes, and cultural displays.
Haruna Magala is warming up to show Nigerians and other African countries that Uganda is endowed with good food and prolific chefs.
“We have been preparing international cuisines, but now is our time to showcase our talents. I believe this will attract more tourists to our country,” he said.