Pork Festival in the offing

This coming November, all roads will lead to Ramotswa for the inaugural Pork Festival. The event is presented by Tsa Ga Malete, and it seeks to celebrate and highlight pigs. Historically, Balete are synonymous with rearing of pigs, which freely roam the streets hence this annual Pork Festival in Ramotswa. The event will be held at BeFree Park in Ramotswa on November 26th.

For organizers, they are going all out to give revelers a one of a kind event where various players in the piggery value chain, in what they termed pork to fork, under a relaxed and interactive atmosphere. On the day, guests will be treated to an array of displays of pork delicacies, pigs in pens, feeds and anything related to piggery farming. This event will be the ultimate premium pork festival in Botswana, for passionate foodies, says organizers.

Highlights of the day will include food stalls, exhibitions and performances by artists such as Nnunu Ramogotsi.

Master of ceremony for the day is none other than former Miss Botswana, Sumaiyah Marope, who hails from Ramotswa and radio personality, Michael Morapedi.

According to organizers, the objective of the event is to firstly, showcase the entire value chain of piggery farming. Secondly, the event seeks to highlight the investment and employment opportunities in the piggery sector.

The event also seeks to bring together stakeholders who believe and make a living out of piggery farming. Most importantly, the event seeks to resuscitate the culture of pig farming and bring the culture of Balete in pig farming.

Speaking in an interview, the event organizer, Jerald Malebe explains that they are currently in talks with two international chefs who will be unveiled at a later stage.

Besides the two chefs, they are also expecting to feature local chefs/ cooks who will represent Ramotswa.

“They will be showcasing their skills when it comes to presenting pork,” he explains. He further explains that they will serve different pork dishes on the day.

He revealed that this past weekend, they gave Batswana a taste of what they can expect with a food tasting event that was held at Tashy’s Royal Garden, where they had a positive response from the public. At the event, they served an array of dishes including pigs head, trotters and other dishes.

“They have never seen something like this before,” he said.

Beyond the event, they are adding a corporate social responsibility element to the event, and are looking at sponsoring a pig farmer with feeds. This is necessitated by the fact, that they have observed that feeds are costly to most farmers.

Meanwhile, they are still looking for sponsors who can come on board to support the event.