THE Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has organised a culinary showcase dubbed: “Taste 69 @ 69” as part of activities marking Ghana Heritage Month and the country’s 69th Independence Anniversary.
The event showcased 69 indigenous Ghanaian dishes from across the regions to celebrate the country’s cultural diversity through food while promoting domestic tourism and preserving traditional cuisine.
The programme took place in Accra on Friday under the theme: ‘Resetting Ghana’s Tourism, Culture and Creative Ecosystem.’
It was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts as part of efforts to highlight the role of food in Ghana’s cultural and tourism development.
The event also featured the 2026 Ghana Culture Week celebration and a National Cultural and Creative Sector Stakeholder Forum organised by the ministry in partnership with the Ghana Culture Forum and the GTA.
Addressing participants, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, said the government was putting in place strong and forward-looking policies to guide, protect and promote the country’s cultural sector while safeguarding monuments, artefacts, traditions, oral histories, performing arts and indigenous knowledge systems.
She announced that the President would soon launch the new Ghana Cultural Policy which would strengthen the governance of cultural institutions and unlock opportunities within the creative and cultural industries.
She said the implementation of the policy was expected to stimulate innovation, encourage entrepreneurship and create meaningful and decent jobs for the youth, while also calling on cultural practitioners, traditional authorities, the private sector and other stakeholders to support efforts to revitalise the sector.
Ms Gomashie further stated that the government was working with its partners to facilitate the return of Ghana’s illegally acquired and stolen artefacts from abroad, noting that such items embodied the memory and identity of the people and must be restored to their rightful home.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Maame Efua Houadjeto, said the Ghana Culture Week formed part of efforts to reset and strengthen the country’s tourism, culture and creative ecosystem.
She explained that the initiative brought together industry stakeholders to re-imagine, reposition and re-energise the sector in line with the vision of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts to promote domestic tourism, cultural heritage and creative enterprise.
The CEO of GTA indicated that the initiative also sought to position culinary tourism as an important pillar of Ghana’s tourism development agenda, noting that food remained one of the strongest expressions of the country’s culture, history and identity.
She encouraged restaurant operators, chefs, hospitality institutions and food entrepreneurs to place Ghanaian cuisine at the centre of their offerings.
Mrs Houadjeto noted that many traditional meals such as waakye, banku, akple, fufu, tuo zaafi, kenkey, mpotompoto, abenkwan and ebunuebunu had the potential to become global brands if deliberately promoted.
According to her, promoting Ghanaian cuisine would not only preserve traditional recipes but also create economic opportunities for local businesses and strengthen the country’s global tourism appeal.
Activities held during the programme included a Cultural Forum, the Taste 69 @ 69 food exhibition, celebrity cooking competition and traditional games.
BY STEPHANIE BIRIKORANG
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