I saw two programmes a while ago on weddings: 3 Grand Weddings on Sky Wedding TV and Four Weddings on Living TV. Both programmes featured a Nigerian couple. For the Four Weddings, each bride had to attend and judge each others weddings based on set criteria which included presentation. On both programmes. Each bride had to present their day, talk about budgets, dresses, venues, food basically every detail of their big day. The Nigerian bride’s presentation was hilarious.Personally, I didn’t find any of it funny, if anything, I found it really embarrassing. In my opinion, the Nigerian food was poorly presented.
Nigeria is blessed with abundant resources. The country has countless cuisines, excellent chefs naturally blessed with amazing culinary skills, so many delicacies. Most of our Chefs have no formal training but are naturally gifted with amazing cooking skills. I will be the first to agree that some of our food can be considered unhealthy, highly over cooked and badly presented, I can argue that our cuisines can be sort after like the Tikka Masalas and Thai curries. We just need to adapt our cooking to appeal to a wider audience. On the Four Weddings programme, the Nigerian bride to be described ‘Tripe’ as ‘Intestine’, that description most definitely will put anyone off! A good description helps stimulate the taste bud, for instance, if I simply say ‘Jellof Rice’ that might not appeal much to many but by adding ‘Rice cooked in spicy tomatoes sauce with herbs’ that might challenge your audience to at least want to try the food out.
So what are we doing wrong? What are we not getting right? Indian foods are spicy, Chinese food is not the most healthy yet we all clamour for them. I think the major turnoff really is how our food is presented. For the food tasting sessions, the food courses presented by the caterer for the Nigerian bride was appalling. On the wedding day, the food service which was a buffet style service, was also badly presented - this was an opportunity to set up the buffet area as part of the decor.
Nigerian caterer need to improve on food design and display, there is a saying that says “the eyes eats before the mouth…” I totally agree and believe that the traditional Nigerian food can be healthy, as it is cooked with a lot of fresh vegetables which makes it very nutritious and it can compete with other cuisines worldwide.
At Hannah Michael, we are passionate about food, service and presentation. We offer bespoke and a la carte menus designed and delivered in the style that will wow your guests and that is uniquely you.
