Chronicle Editor
Millicent Dube, Showbiz Reporter
Organisers of the acclaimed Munch & Sip food festival have assured fans of the event that this year’s edition will live up to its billing of being a food fiesta.
The first edition has been slated for April 23 with Mandipa Masuku, who runs the event, promising that food will be the order of the day. The event which has been running for a couple of years has grown tremendously with food stalls often getting overwhelmed due to the high volumes of people.
“This time around, we intend to make the event live up to its name, Munch and Sip. Therefore, the event will be more centred around food, instead of making the event, just a ‘turn up’ joint,” said Masuku.
To achieve this and also ensure that emphasis is on the food experience, Masuku said there will be a mini food lounge where people will be acquainted with the dishes that will be served.
“This year, there’ll be a different setup where we will reduce the regular fast foods (braai, burgers and chips) as proper dishes will be introduced in the lounge to ensure people have a full-on food experience.”
Another addition will be the addition of food bloggers whom organisers have been following on the Internet. These are set to run the food stalls as groups.
“The food experience will not have individual cook-offs as we’re bringing in new food marketers that have showcased their skills online. We’ll select those whose standards we’re happy with.”
With growing popularity, the event was fast losing its concept of celebrating local culinary culture, innovation, and artistry as people were turning it into some sort of music festival where the main business would be partying with less attention on food.
Competitions of chefs which would have been planned to be the highlight of the event were now failing to take place, something which began to worry organisers as it showed that the event was losing its plot.
Running under the moniker “Food is our community”, Masuku said the plan is to give home-grown chefs from Bulawayo a platform to execute their culinary skills.
“Our plan is to have Bulawayo’s home-grown chefs get a platform to showcase their culinary skills and present a variety of dishes that will be great for the taste buds. There’ll also be an inclusion of traditional foods that will be prepared alongside the fancy dishes.
“There’ll also be a cook-off competition with the best cook set to be rewarded,” Masuku said.
She said they are working hard to ensure that the first instalment of the year will be worthwhile as it will set the pace for the other two instalments of the year.
To cater for the high number of people who are likely to attend the event, Masuku said they are hoping to secure a bigger venue. The last edition which was highly subscribed was held at a very spacious venue, the Criterion Park in Burnside.
For the last edition, Munch & Sip partnered with a retail outlet, Greens Supermarket with Masuku saying they are still in talks with the company regarding the partnership for this year’s edition. However, she said they have secured a new partner whom they intend to unveil next week.
Munch & Sip is held three times a year, in April, August and December with the December edition usually being the most attended due to the festive holiday.
Online Reporter