British Vogue - 08.2019

FOUR YEARS SINCE it first set

out to shine a spotlight on Africa’s

unique and diverse culinary scenes,

GTBank Food & Drink Festival has

grown on the global gastronomic scale.

The fourth edition of the festival, held

once again in Lagos between 28 April

and 1 May 2019, served up a stellar

line-up of talent, a wealth of knowledge

and a mouth-watering array of food.

More than a dozen food-and-drink

industry experts, such as Le Cordon

Bleu alumnus and television chef

Tregaye Fraser – who was the first

African-American woman to win hit

reality show Food Network Star – and

food stylist and author Melina

Hammer, known for her playful

pictorial depictions of dishes and

ingredients, shared their expertise and

advice in a series of masterclasses.

While providing a platform to

showcase and learn from celebrated

talent is at the forefront of the GTBank

Food & Drink Festival – now the largest

of its kind on the continent – it is the

championing of enterprise that lies at

the heart of its objective. Pop-up stores

were given to 300 small businesses to

serve their delicacies over the course of

the event, offering a free platform,

invaluable exposure and networking

opportunities to a wave of brilliant

entrepreneurs that organisers hope will

be a driving force of accelerated growth

in the local food industries.

Food and drink isn’t

the only economic

sector in which

GTBank is investing,

however – next up

on the calendar is

the GTBank Fashion

Weekend. Also in its

fourth year, it takes the same formula

as the Food & Drink Festival,

comprising masterclasses and retail

exhibition stalls with the concordant

aim of promoting and empowering

talent across Africa’s fashion industries.

Uniting passion and entrepreneurship,

GTBank is on a mission to serve and

support local communities, while

bringing a bounty of skill and creativity

to the global table. n

Visit Foodanddrink.gtbank.com to meet

the chefs and find out more

Below: expertise

from professional

chefs was

shared through a

programme of

masterclasses at

the GTBank Food

& Drink Festival

Left: chef Tregaye

Fraser, who led

the Afro Recipe

Fusion for a

New Culinary

Experience

masterclass at

the festival

Uniting passion and

entrepreneurship, GTBank

is on a mission to serve and

support local communities

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELINA HAMMER

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