Market women from Agbogbloshie have emerged winners of the 5th edition of the Onga ‘Kpatashie’ Cooking contest which was organised at the Arts Centre in Accra.

Representatives from various markets in Accra including Madina, Ashaiman, Anyaa, Adabraka, Makola and Novotel competed against Agbogbloshie amidst cheers from their colleagues who sat among the audience.

The competition started with 10 participants taking turns to exhibit their culinary skills with a taste of Onga in their steamy hot meals.

This year’s event dubbed “Wear Ghana, Eat Ghana and Drink Ghana”, was saddled with drama and passion as contestants who lost at various stages in the competition were seen with tears.

After two hours of intense cooking, market women from Agbogbloshie who prepared kokonte and rice balls with groundnut soup won the ultimate prize with representatives from Adabraka who prepared tuo zaafi with ayoyo and waakye emerging second.

The champions took home kitchen appliances, certificates of participation and provisions from Cowbell.

Speaking at the event, Brands Manager for Promassidor Ghana Limited, Magnus Dey praised the competitors for their effort, saying, they have gone the extra mile to challenge themselves as women by cooking traditional meals from other regions.

“The reception from these women is overwhelming. Today is a working day for them yet they are here cooking meals from various regions across the country. Even the demeanour on the faces of those who didn’t win tells how passionate they are about the program”. He said

He expressed gratitude to the market women for their continued support adding that consumers should expect more exciting events and new products from the Onga brand.

“It is the market women who keeps the brand thriving so we organised this event to give back to them. Our research department has been able to come up with various new products that could help them better in the kitchen. It will be launched this year”. He added

Onga, Ghana’s market leader in food seasoning in collaboration with the Centre for National Culture and the Greater Accra Market Women Association climaxed this year’s National Culture and Art Carnival with “Kpatashie”, a cook-off between selected markets in the Greater Accra Region.

The event formed part of a bigger celebration under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts.