Foreign diplomats in Zimbabwe cooked local meals instead of making trade deals last month. For the yearly contest, they competed to make chicken with rice in peanut butter sauce. People voted online after seeing photos of their food. Dutch leader Margret Verwijk won first place against France, Canada, the UK, Australia, Turkey, and Pakistan. The Pakistani cook earned third place.
The dish uses free-range chickens that run around villages and taste better than store-bought birds. The ambassadors shopped at local markets and learned village cooking methods. They cooked on open fires with clay pots and tried speaking the Shona language. Australia's Minoli Perera took second place when she knelt on reed mats and stirred huge iron pots. British man Pete Vowles won the fan award after riding home with a live chicken on public buses.
France's Paul-Bertrand Barets said his videos chasing chickens helped people see him as human rather than just a person in a tie. The cooking helped them connect with regular people during a time when Zimbabwe was rebuilding ties with America and Europe after years of problems.
The dish uses free-range chickens that run around villages and taste better than store-bought birds. The ambassadors shopped at local markets and learned village cooking methods. They cooked on open fires with clay pots and tried speaking the Shona language. Australia's Minoli Perera took second place when she knelt on reed mats and stirred huge iron pots. British man Pete Vowles won the fan award after riding home with a live chicken on public buses.
France's Paul-Bertrand Barets said his videos chasing chickens helped people see him as human rather than just a person in a tie. The cooking helped them connect with regular people during a time when Zimbabwe was rebuilding ties with America and Europe after years of problems.
