Teni, Zlatan perform as Christopher becomes King of Street Food

With Victor Akande, Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi, Olaitan Ganiu

After 13 weeks of battle that saw contestants compete in the maiden edition of King of Street Food, the cooking competition conceived by FoodBay TV ended with the Street Foodz Fest, where the six finalists from different parts of the country slugged it out for the grand prize.

Staged at the Eagles Club, Surulere, Lagos, penultimate Saturday, the grand finale, which was hosted by OAP Dotun and Soliat Bada, witnessed energetic performances by the duo of Zlatan and Ten.

Conceived as a family event, the festival had food vendors who exhibited their cuisines while guests played different games indoors before the cooking contest kicked off on the big stage.

The finalists were Martha Edem of Akara Café; Box D Food by Fego Daniels and Crispy And Grills by Christopher Omowa. Others are Chef Segun Anifowose of King Glab Cuisine; Simple Corner by Chinonso Attansey and Soma Ofada by Oluwaseyi Gunre.

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In the final task, the contestants were given 30 minutes to prepare any dish of their choice, under the supervision of the judges – Chef Etteh Assam; Chef Adetomi ‘Imoteda’ Aladeokomo and Adedamola “AskDamz” Ladejobi, a certified personal nutritionist and weight loss expert.

In the end, Christopher Omowa emerged the winner and was presented with a cash prize of N1, 000, 000 and other gift items. The first runner-up got N500,000, while the second runner-up got N200,000. Meanwhile, all the finalists will get their workplace renovated by the organisers.

Speaking at the event, the CEO of Macima Media Group, owners of FoodBay TV which airs on Startimes, Femi Ogundoro, observed that food is big everywhere in the world.

“With over 200,000,000 people, diverse cultures and tribes, why won’t food be bigger in Nigeria?” he asked.

“One thing that can bring us together, either as African or Nigerians, is actually food. The challenge is that the government and international organisations are talking about food in a way the consumers do not understand. They talk about food security, they talk about agriculture… it is still food. That’s what we stand for as FoodBay TV, which is a 24-hour channel to be launched very soon. We are focused on getting the best of food and putting African food on the world food map.”

While thanking Devon King for believing in and sponsoring the project, Ogundoro said: “We are looking at taking it a notch higher in season two.”

On the choice of Zlatan and Teni for the grand finale, he explained: “We did a survey to know whom the people would love to see and a lot of people wanted someone with energy like Zlatan. Then, a lot of them wanted to see a young, vivacious artiste in the stature of Teni. So, if that’s what they want, we had to give it to them.”

Praising the initiative, Teni said: “Of course, you can see I’m big on food; I love food. This idea is a good one, bringing people together, cooking, showing them nutrients, what to eat and what not to eat. I think it’s a good idea.”