The African Food Fusion event has been organised by the group Simba Ngoma, which aims to help people who are new to Guernsey socialise and integrate with each other.
Cathy from the organisation told Express that she wants to “introduce African culture in Guernsey by way of sharing our food”.
Saturday’s food festival at the St John Ambulance hall on the Rohais will focus on East African cuisine with everyone invited to come along.
“…by inviting everyone, that means we are also open to learning from other cultures especially Guernsey local culture,” said Cathy.
“There’s going to be a variety of tastes and textures to suit all, including vegetarian options.”
Cathy uses the Guernsey Simba Ngoma Facebook page to share events and information and says she’ll be posting the menus for this weekend on there once they are finalised.
“This will be our 8th African Food Fusion event,” she said. “We have them every year.
“The food is cooked by chefs from Kenya, Utalli College. These chefs are based here working in various establishments locally.”
Pictured: Some of the food served at an event held by Simba Ngoma at Edible Guernsey last summer.
Those chefs are working at restaurants across the Bailiwick – but on Saturday they’ll be sharing their skills, with food served from 19:00 and Cathy hopes that festival goers will share their experiences about East Africa as they eat.
She says the event will also enable people to have a drink, make friends, and listen to good music.
“There’s going to be MC Panya to entertain and hype the crowd once the music starts. All these people are East Africans from the DJ, Chefs to the MC.
“There’s going to be African crafts in the back for people to buy if they like. The proceeds go back to Simba Ngoma, the name we use for our community gatherings. We tend to hold other smaller gatherings that are only for Kenyans, more so to educate about the different cultures.
“And finally what East Africans like to do best – DISCO, dance the night away, and dance some more!”
Anyone who would like to go to the African Food Festival this Saturday at the St John Ambulance hall on the Rohais can pay at the door but, Cathy asked if people can pre-pay via Eventbrite HERE.
Pictured: A recent event held by Simba Ngoma at Mojito.
Looking ahead, Cathy said other events are already being planned with a comedy show starring a Kenyan comedian on Sunday 10 September.
“All these social events create a feel good factor for our community, once in a while to have something they are familiar with, language, people, food, hairstyles. All these are very good ingredients for their mental health and wellbeing.
“This is purely why I do this. It makes me happy to see my people happy,” said Cathy.
“I would also like to put a request out there, if we have a friend of Africa who can come on board to join our team of four volunteers so that we can exchange ideas and make this a thing for Guernsey, we’ll be fulfilled as we would like to grow.”