Onome Amuge

What began as a dream to spotlight African cuisine is fast growing into a global movement, one that blends food, trade, and diplomacy into a singular cultural export strategy. At the centre of that movement stands AfroFlavour, a pan-African organisation using gastronomy to reimagine how the world experiences Africa.

Its latest venture, the South African Heritage Day Festival, held on October 11 at the  Ibru Gardens in Victoria Island, Lagos, was more than a food event. It was a sensory journey through the continent’s tastes, sounds, and textures.

The festival, themed South Africa in Nigeria, was a collaboration between AfroFlavour and the South African Consulate in Lagos, designed to deepen ties between two of Africa’s largest economies through the universal language of food. The day unfolded with the sounds of jazz, the aroma of sizzling tripe, and a kaleidoscope of African fabrics, all converging to celebrate unity through flavour.

One of the memorable showcases of the festival was the Tripe Love Cook-Off, the first-ever pan-African tripe competition, featuring chefs from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The contest was won by Tahara, the Ethiopian representative, who was awarded N200,000 and a portrait of Nelson Mandela, symbolising the spirit of continental pride.

Beyond the cook-off, guests were treated to a series of experiences that blurred the line between travel and gastronomy. There was the Afroliganza Fashion Procession, curated by the Lai Labode Heritage Foundation, showcasing South African fashion alongside Nigerian traditional styles from various Nigerian tribes.

Nearby, the Culture Market thrummed with life, a vibrant bazaar of food, fashion, jewellery, and craftsmanship from across Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. On the waterfront, guests boarded boats for a short ride along the Lagos shoreline, a nod to Cape Town’s harbour experience.

The menu was no less diverse as guests sampled bobotie, bunny chow, and Cape Malay curry, alongside Nigerian favourites like jollof rice and suya. The organisers even installed a replica of Shaka Zulu’s throne, where guests posed for photos in traditional South African attire, from beaded skirts to the signature headwraps of Zulu women.

Lucky Idike, founder of AfroFlavour, said the Heritage Day Festival represents more than entertainment, as he considers it is a soft power project aimed at elevating African cuisine into a tool of economic diplomacy.

Speaking at the event, Idike described the initiative as a mission to use food as a bridge between cultures and continents, adding that AfroFlavour’s expansion into Europe, North America, and now Africa marks the beginning of a global conversation about African cuisine.

“Food is a huge unifier.it solves problems, builds bridges, and settles crises across the world consistently.  We’re using food as a tool for diplomacy. We call that gastro diplomacy. We want to use food to put Africa on the map,” Idike said in an interview with Business a.m. 

According to Idike, AfroFlavour, founded in 2018, has evolved from a passion project into an international culinary brand. In the past year, it organised events in Washington DC, Maryland, and Houston, as well as a major showcase in Manchester, UK. 

This year, the organisation returned home with Flavours of Africa: A Taste of South Africa in Lagos, an event that formed the template for the Heritage Day festival.

“The July event was a huge success,” Idike recalled. “On the back of that, we proposed to help the consulate curate the South African Heritage Week experience for 2025, and we’re proud to say this event is the result of that partnership.”

At the Lagos event, guests were checked in as if boarding a flight to South Africa, complete with boarding passes and designated business and economy exits. “We even added a boat ride to enhance the Cape Town experience. We wanted our guests to feel as though they had visited South Africa without leaving Lagos,” Idike said. 

The Heritage Day Festival may have been framed as a cultural celebration, but its economic undertones were clear. Idike views African cuisine as a high-growth industry capable of driving trade and tourism across the continent.

“We’re not just doing this because we have a passion for African food. We’re doing it because it’s a massively profitable industry. In America today, Chinese food is estimated at about $27 billion — that’s close to what Nigeria exports from crude oil every year. That tells you how huge food is,” he stated.

Idike argued that Africa’s culinary exports are still in their infancy and that initiatives like AfroFlavour can help build the ecosystem needed to commercialise the continent’s food culture. “We want to see millions of non-Africans eating African cuisine across the world, day after day,” he added.

The Lagos festival was funded by a mix of private investment and corporate sponsorships. Partners included Coca-Cola, Freddy Hirsch, a South African food ingredient company operating in Nigeria; Rand Merchant Bank, a South African lender with a Lagos presence; and the Ibru Organisation, which hosted the event.

“We believed in the dream and put our own resources behind it. We’re proud to have partners who share that vision and are helping us scale it globally,”Idike noted.

For Bobby J. Moroe, South Africa’s Consul-General in Lagos, the event showcases the growing role of cultural diplomacy in strengthening bilateral relations.

“The turnout was good, and we extend our appreciation to the guests and partners for the promotion of African culture. Events like this are among the ways the bilateral relationship between both countries can be strengthened,” Moroe said. 

Nigeria and South Africa, whose economies jointly account for nearly half of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, have often had a complex relationship, marked by political and trade tensions. But initiatives like AfroFlavour’s Heritage Day are part of an intentional effort to refocus that partnership on collaboration and people-to-people exchange.

Among the attendees was Ade Adefeko, director of corporate and regulatory affairs at Olam Agri, who also serves as Honorary Consul of Botswana in Lagos. For him, the event symbolised something much larger than cultural exchange.

“This is an event that promotes the spirit of oneness and togetherness among African countries. Africans have not really been collaborating with each other so much, but seeing South Africa, North Africa, East Africa, and West Africa come together here represents the spirit of Ubuntu,”Adefeko said. 

He argued that greater collaboration among African nations is essential for realising the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) ,the landmark agreement aimed at creating a single market for goods and services across the continent.

“Africa, consisting of 1.5 billion people and a $3.5 trillion economy, must support one another, trade amongst each other, and move freely within each other’s countries,” he said. 

Adefeko added that the Heritage Day Festival should become an annual fixture on the African cultural calendar. “This event should not be a one-off. It should become a standard for others to follow; a platform that celebrates unity, trade, and creativity through culture,” he stated.