Zimbabwe is one of the country in the Southern part of Africa. Through Gastronomy tourism most community based farmers have managed to concentrate on underutilized crops and indigenous fruits which are the major ingredients in Zimbabwean Gastronomy. Therefore, the issue of sustainability in term of nutrients, heritage knowledge and the medicinal heritage is maintained in Zimbabwe. Her Excellence the current First Land of Zimbabwe managed to come up with the Agriculture for SHEA which She managed to give ethnic gastronomy or underutilized crops seeds so as to promote sustainability in terms of supply of the ethnic ingredients into ethnic restaurants and on Gastronomy, Cultural and heritage events. The aspect of value chain is promoted due to this program. Like said that "you are what you eat and you eat what you are". Meaning that Zimbabwe due to indigenous knowledge of of Culture and crops have resorted to underutilized crops and indigenous fruits for the upkeep of its people. And one of the major drawback trending worldwide is the climate change which has affected the supply of food. Zimbabwe is trying to encourage the uptake of the heritage based food which are drought resistant. The other way of increasing awareness is via the Cook Out competition which is the brain child of Her Excellence the Mother of Zimbabwe. Projects such as goat rearing, farming of drought resistance crops, use of indigenous fruits in season has reduced hunger with a certain amount of percentage. Communities involved are now occupied and can improve their livelihood as they tend to sale the ingredients restaurants and individuals as well. However, food preparation and preservation of indigenous ingredients through senior Zimbabwean citizens is done through demonstrations from the ten provinces of Zimbabwe. The therapeutic values of these foods are explained through allergens. On the other hand, Zimbabwe needs to intertwine all ministries to further promote the harnessing of what are called underutilized crops and improve on the infrastructure especially on gastronomy technology so as to promote sustainability, improve entrepreneurship in all sectors involved in the food security, innovations and preservation of culinary heritage practices. This also apply to other countries in Africa and globally.
Dr. Edinah Tendani