INTRODUCE MORE LOCAL FOODS ON MENU (MIRROR, PAGE 39, NOV 20, 2010)

 From Joe Okyere, Winneba

THE Head of Department of the Home Economics Education of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Dr. Phyllis Forster, has called on the hospitality and tourism industry to introduce local dishes into their menus for variety.
Dr. Forster said local dishes which were nutritious can compete with foreign dishes but had unfortunately been left out of the menus of hotels in the country.
She said her Department was prepared to show-case dishes and beverages that could be derived from local food commodities to the hotels and hospitality industry and urged them to take advantage of its efforts to promote food varieties.
At the annual Food Exhibition and Assessment of New Recipes of the Unit of Home Economics, Dr. Forster said the exhibition was the result of eight weeks experiments for the course of food product development, preservation and storage.
The exhibition show-cased recipes and beverages from the regions.
  She said most local foodstuffs could be developed into nutritious dishes and beverages, the hospitality industry had relied on what she described as “the same old dishes”.
She said the Unit was prepared to share its experience with the hospitality and tourism industry to provide variety from local commodities to enrich their services.
Dr. Forster said the dishes and beverages could also help reduce the cost of the school feeding programme.
The Head of the Food and Nutrition Unit, Ms. Comfort Katumi Madah, urged students in second cycle institutions to take advantage of the exhibition to learn and try out their own recipes for their practical examinations.
The Head of the Faculty of Science, Dr, Mawudem Amedeker, commended the unit for its innovation and urged it to endeavour to revive local dishes and beverages which were facing extinction.