Ethiopian Catering publishes recipe book

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Ethiopian Airlines Catering (ET Catering) on Saturday unveiled a recipe book that promotes Ethiopian cuisines and beverages at Ethiopian Skylight Hotel.

The book, which has 520 pages introduces Ethiopian national dishes and beverages. The minister of Tourism Nanise Chani, state minister Sileshi Girma, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew, other executive management of the airline and invited guests attended the launching ceremony.   

In his opening remark Mesfin Tasew said that Ethiopian Airlines has been promoting Ethiopian organic food. “We very much care what our passengers eat and drink. And we want to make sure that they enjoy our organic cuisines,” Mesfin said. 

Minister Nanise Chani said that Ethiopia has a great potential to become a culinary tourism destination. “Through food one can learn about places and culture,” Nanise said. The minister applauded Ethiopian for the role it has been playing in promoting Ethiopian cuisines and culture.   

Last year Ethiopian Catering launched “Fly Ethiopian Go Organic” campaign that promotes Organic Ethiopian food and beverages in February 2021.

ET Catering director, Belayneh Asfaw, told Origins Business that nature had endowed Ethiopia with beautiful weather suitable for horticulture farming. “We grow the best quality flowers; we grow tropical fruits, vegetables and herbs in the Rift Valley. Ethiopia is the origin of coffee. We have the finest organic coffee. We also have natural honey.”

According to Belayneh, ET Catering wants to promote Ethiopian national dishes on its flights. “We are working from farm to fork on the whole supply chain. We have a list of varieties of Ethiopian organic products that we can serve on board. In that way, we can create a market for local products, as well as local employment.”  

According to him, the Go Organic campaign has two objectives- to provide its passengers healthy food and beverages and create market for locally produced products there by stimulate local employment opportunities. 

The recipe book published by Ethiopian would be distributed to libraries with hard and soft copies. 

Established in the 1960s at Ethiopian Airlines’ Addis Ababa Bole International Airport hub, ET Catering currently has the capacity to produce 100,000 meals per day.

In 2016, the airline spent more than $20 million to expand the catering facility by building new kitchens, sourcing catering trucks, and hiring more professional staff.

Today, the center boasts more than 1,000 staff.