DILI, 29 december 2022 (TATOLI) – The Ministry of Tourism, Trade, and Industry (MTCI) provided 15 thousand USD for 16 culinary groups to promote local gastronomy in a competition held by MTCI.
MTCI Director General, Jelino Soars said, this competition was held to promote local products and motivate the people of Timor Leste who have the skills to improve local gastronomy.
“The MTC team has distributed an additional budget to each group that will take part in the gastronomy competition. Each group receives about 200 dollars to buy local products and cook a different menu,” MTCI Director General Jelino Soares told reporters at the Dili port on Thursday.
Since the winners will be awarded cash prizes, Soares said, the budget will also be used to prepare prizes for the winners, for example, he said: The first winner of the competition will be awarded a cash prize of $1,500, the second 1,000, and the third winner for a total of $500.
Meanwhile, The group of participants consisted of different municipalities.
A participant from the municipality of Manatuto, Diana Josefina said her group received $200 from MTCI to participate in the competition: “We received $200 from MTCI to prepare food for the competition and it was used for transportation costs as well,”
According to Diana, the menu consists of traditional food, local chicken cooked in the traditional way using bamboo, local grilled chicken, traditional mixed vegetable rice, seafood, fish barbeque, steamed cassava, boiled heart, fruits, and among others: “we have cooked various dishes according to the menu provided by the Minister of Trade and Tourism Industry (MTCI),”
“I am very proud to be able to participate in this competition to promote our local food. We will have local testi food that contains nutrients, therefore I hope our group will become the winner and get funds to develop our business,” She added.
So far the competition will be attended by 16 groups from various municipalities including, Dili, Baucau, Ermera, Liquica, Manatuto, and students from Dili and the Institute da Technologies (DIT).
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia B.
