CRESPAC festival of flavours: Swiss Confederation named country of honour as Ndole anchors 2024 edition.

The member of government made the two announcements during an ambassador’s dinner organised by the Ministry of Tourism in Yaounde last Thursday. 

It was to officially launch the month-long activities in the build-up to the 2024 series of the highly-rated CRESPAC festival.

The dinner was attended by over a dozen ambassadors and diplomatic representatives accredited to Cameroon. The contingent was led by Martin Strub, Ambassador of Switzerland to Cameroon.

The gathering was also attended by several members of government including the Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of cooperation with Commonwealth, Felix Mbayu; Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr Taiga; and his counterpart of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa. 

The evening’s menu featured traditional Cameroonian dishes put together by revered Cameroonian chefs, while also using, among others, products from Swiss gastronomy and those of Brazilian and Egyptian culinary traditions.

Swiss Confederation handed prestigious front seat 

The major announcement during special dinner gathering Thursday was the naming of the Swiss Confederation as the country of honour of the 2024 festival, which aims to showcase Cameroonian culinary riches to the world. 

The European nation replaces Italy, which was the country on the spotlight during the second edition of the event organised last year. The Swiss Confederation will have a massive representation throughout this year’s event with special focus highlighting its delicacies. 

Minister Bello Bouba, in his statement at the event, said choosing Switzerland as the country of honour is a move in “celebration of cooperation between these two countries”.

The member of government, who expressed gratitude to the Swiss ambassador and his team for their contributions in organising the dinner, urged the diplomat and his collaborators to consolidate the spirit to ensure that the 2024 event goes through without hitches. 

“We are of course counting on you to continue the mobilisation work already underway, both towards your fellow Ambassadors, and towards your compatriots and companies in your country,” he emphasised.

The Swiss Ambassador, Martin Strub, in a brief address, expressed his country’s gratitude to Cameroon for the privilege to be on the spotlight and pledged to do his best to ensure the successful organisation of the forthcoming ceremony.

Ndole to anchor 2024 event 

Another major disclosure at the dinner was the declaration of Ndole, a revered Cameroonian dish from the Littoral Region, by Minister Bello Bouba as the main dish of the 2024 festival.

The meal, which can be consumed with plantain, banana, casava and several others, is one of the major Cameroonian delicacies. 

It is one of the 14 Cameroonian meals identified through a recent World Intellectual Property Organisation project to benefit from effective intellectual property protection.

While announcing the dish as the dish of honour of this year’s CRESPAC event, the member of government described it as one of Cameroon’s “most prized dishes, the fruit of the rich tradition and creative genius of the Sawa people,”. 

About festival

The first edition of the Festival of Flavors of Cameroon and the World took place in 2021. The culinary aspect of the event is anchored by revered Cameroonian chef, Marie Thérèse Atedzoe Owona, the president of CRESPAC.

The 2024 edition of the fast-growing festival is organised under the theme: “Gastronomy and Intellectual Property”

According to the Minister of Tourism, the entire project was introduced to present Cameroon to the world as a country endowed with a rich and diverse national culinary heritage, supported by a proactive policy of preservation and promotion as instructed by the Head of State, Paul Biya.

It is coordinated by the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Chairman of the National Tourism Council. The Ministry of Tourism and Leisure oversees the organisation of the event in partnership with the Ministry of Arts and Culture and the Ministry of External Relations.