‘Nigerian Flavour’ festival featured food courts, music, arts and fashion, and children entertainment.
It was bserved that only few food spots sold Nigerian snacks such as ‘Asun’ (peppered goat meat), roasted plantain and ‘suya’ (roasted steak).
Majority of the food courts sold foreign snacks, including hamburgers, shawarma, chicken and chips, vegetable stir fries and sandwiches.
Some respondents, who spoke, expressed disappointment at the low representation of Nigerian food at the event.
They said since the event was organised to showcase Nigerian products, it was important that food, an important part of the culture, should get a huge spotlight.
Mrs. Funmilayo Oloyede said she expected to see local soups from all parts of the country represented at the festival with foreign snacks sold at the barest minimum.
“I thought I would see a lot of soups and ‘swallows’, local rice and the sorts.
It is quite unfair to see that even at our own event, the foreign foods are taking over,” she said.
Mr. Charles Obot said that even if the event wanted to have just snacks and ‘finger’ foods, there were a lot of snacks in the Nigerian culture that could have taken the entire space.
“For me, the organisers would have found a way to ban the foreign snacks.
“They would have simply told the food vendors to bring Nigerian food and snacks or nothing else,” Obot said.
Miss Cynthia Anyanwu said that the food courts appeared more like showcases for food outlets so they could gather costumers and did not really reflect ‘Nigerian flavour’.
“The aim of the event is to showcase Nigeria, and food is a huge part of it.
“They have succeeded in bringing popular foreign snacks here, instead of making sure everyone experiences the Nigerian taste by making it the only thing available,” Anyanwu said.