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Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey,
Minister of Tourism,
Photo Courtesy:
Kobina Annan, Jr |
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Chocolate
Day, Valentine's Day - a
capital idea
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
In a feat yet to be accomplished, the Minister of Tourism,
Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, has invited creative minds in
marketing to turn Valentine’s day in Ghana into a Chocolate
day.
This move may turn out to be a capital idea. Already, this
writer thinks the intent is a masterful stroke of symbolic
manipulation that can energize the cocoa industry as well as
strengthen the national economy.
But, for now, the pleasure lies in the intent. There is
more to do for it to happen and it is going to be a
worthwhile exercise in mind bending.
I am reminded of a visit to Ghana some three years ago. It
so happened that my visit coincided with a Valentine day
celebration. I was invited by a friend to a Chinese
restaurant in the Oxford Street area of Osu. This was an
area that used to be known as Osu RE, or the "last bus
stop."
That was some 40 years ago when
Valentine's day was not on the
average Ghanaian’s mind, if at
all. But this ought to show how
quick and pervasive some fanciful ideas can be.
How Osu RE became Oxford Street is something I cannot
explain, at least not in this article. But suffice it to say
it did as the area became more commercial and "ritzy."
On the day of my visit, the area was
the nerve center for Valentine's
Day celebration in Ghana. And Valentine was in your face
everywhere.
All I could see around me was red – red shirts, red skirts,
red caps. The whole area was a sea of red
made of all sorts of attires.
Right there and then it occurred to me that we have become
lovers of a global culture.
Which was alright in a way because
my friend and I had elected to eat
at a Chinese restaurant. I have also
unwittingly chosen a
Chinese cuisine over an
authentic African dish that day.
In Ghana, we celebrate Valentine’s Day in a more fecund
manner; better than those I have sampled in America, the
capital of commercialism, where the ceremony was not created
but has been turned or elevated, through the grace of
creative marketing, to a high commercial event in
remembrance of lovers who have money to burn.
So, there I was at the Chinese restaurant on Oxford Street,
Osu, Ghana. The proprietor was waiting to serve all. The
only problem was, there was a long waiting line of Valentine
patrons. I was pretty certain then that
the proprietor could hear
the cash register ring loud each time a patron
sat. My suspicion was confirmed
by the way we were hurriedly presented with the bill in the
middle of our dinner.
If I knew what I know now, I could have asked for chocolate
for dessert. After all if chicken chow mein could sit well
in a Ghanaian stomach, so should chocolate. It is more
Ghanaian. But the awareness had escaped me
then.
Valentine Day has become so universal, commercial and close
to religion that we may just as well own a portion of it for
the sake of national pride and of course the economy. I
know there is nothing religious about the day; its only
connection to religion being the saintly man purported to
have started it all; a Christian martyr called Valentine.
Now thousands and thousands of objects are sold worldwide on
this saint's day, Valentine that is.. But that is no excuse
for the Swiss to put their imprimatur on chocolate for this
event. We should. Who, after all, ever heard of a cocoa
plantation in Switzerland? Valentine's Day
provides the opportunity to wrestle the chocolate title from
the Swiss.
Personally, Ghana chocolate would sound better, taste richer,
and would carry an authenticity that "Swiss chocolate" never
had, because “Ghana chocolate” is the real McCoy, as an
American would say it.
The uniqueness of Ghanaian chocolate can be sold. In
appearance, taste, smell, aroma and everything that go to
describe a chocolate, ours has all the above and then some.
Additionally, some say the Ghanaian variety is a natural
aphrodisiac, a cleanser of the arteries and a sharpener of
dull memories; but whatever the features and the benefits
are, lets wrap them and sell the
sweet thing!.
Like wine, chocolate has a culture and a language of its own.
To own that language is to own the experience. The French
would swear that their wine is the
best in the world even though
South Africa, Chile and California are
proficient wine producers.
We could be like the
French.
Chocolate can be our wine
and a hook to the tradition of
Valentine. Let's be the first to tell all lovers that they
would never know what they missed should they forget to send
their partners a box of Ghanaian chocolate on Valentine's
day.
For those doubters who might think we may not have the
sophistication to make our chocolate light, we ought to let
them to know right away that the darker the chocolate, the
more potent it is for that particular faculty they may have
in mind.
We can also, adroitly, shift the argument.
There is a campaign afoot to transfer the allure of
cut diamonds to that of rough
uncut diamonds; with emphasis on the
natural. Our chocolates are formed without artificial
touches. There is something uplifting about the idea
that we can stay so close to nature and manufacture
something more healthy.
So Valentine day as Chocolate day in Ghana is a good start.
Hopefully the word will catch on and the acceptance that
Ghanaian chocolate is the best for celebrating Valentine
would be universal. But there is work to do. Our chefs,
food critics, and marketing gurus would have to work
creating a cultural scene that fits seamlessly into the
chocolate tradition. They must fashion a campaign in
Ghanaian chocolate's favor as the Hon. Jake said.
You can visit this web site "Taste
Chocolate with All Your Senses” that explains how to get
the most from “your chocolate tasting experience” and
picture what the Ghanaian chocolate, the purest and most
natural of them all, can do for you.
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja, Washington, DC, January 10, 2006
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