Accra, Feb 11, GNA – Cocoa pizza, Cocoa garlic rice, chocolate beef stew among other cocoa dishes became the toast of many when students of five vocational schools engaged in a cocoa cooking competition in Accra to herald this year’s National Cocoa Week celebration.
The competition is to encourage young caterers to use cocoa in daily food recipes.
Students with the aid of school instructors prepared recipes and exhibited their cooking skills within a three-hour period.
The event was organised by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) with support from the Ghana Tourism Authority.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Fifii Boafo, Head of Public Affairs of COCOBOD, said failure of some players in the hospitality industry to see the relevance of infusing cocoa into their cuisines must be addressed to improve cocoa consumption.
The event he, therefore, said would go a long way to raise awareness on how cocoa, which was known to have medicinal properties could be used to prepare everyday meals of Ghanaians.
At the end of the competition, New Century Career Training Institute received GH¢3000 and some cocoa products after emerging winners of the competition with a menu that included chocolate beef sauce, chocolate roll, chocolate braise rice and cocoa ice.
Mrs Linda Anima, an instructor with the Institute in an interview, expressed delight with the outcome of the event as they had little time to prepare for the competition.
“At first, we didn’t know we could use cocoa for a variety of things and the pressure to enter the competition made us think on our feet,” she said.
She encouraged Ghanaians to consume more cocoa F for the health benefits.
Other competitors were Opportunities Industrialisation Centre Ghana, Stemapet Cake and Floral Institute, ICCS Dodowa and Career training institute.
GNA