Festivals taking over the national capital region this weekend are bringing a taste of different cultures and traditions to communities. The Ottawa Greek Fest spans over two weekends and put on by the Hellenic Community of Ottawa to commemorate the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. “It’s a big celebration with food, music, entertainment. It started as a one-day celebration 51 years ago, and then it grew into this event that people from all over Ottawa and beyond look forward to and are excited to come and eat and participate,” said Zafy, secretary of the Hellenic Community of Ottawa. “We all come together and we’re happy to do this, to share our culture with everybody.” Among singing and traditional dancing, one of the most popular entertainments is the nightly Zorba show. In Gatineau at Jacques-Cartier Park, the 2nd annual Ottawa Jollof Festival was taking place with games and activities for families. “Bring out the entire African community to celebrate something we really care about food, culture, fashion, and all the good stuff that people associate with the African culture,” said Niyi Akinmolayan, director of the Ottawa Jollof Festival. African food vendors from Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Congo, South Africa and others were in attendance. “This year, we’re doing something special for the record, for non-Nigerians. We’ll do the naming ceremony. People are going to inherit new names. They get to know the meaning, and we get to hand them certificates,” said Akinmolayan. There’s also a competition for the best jollof restaurants in the area and the best in the country. This is Nigerian food vendor Yecunde Babalola’s first time being a vendor at the festival. She says Nigerian food is made with strength. “We have this authentic flavour because when we are cooking jollof rice and we are cooking Nigerian jollof rice, the aroma, the smoky aroma is authentic and the flavour of it. The flavour of the smoky makes it different,” said Yecunde Babalola, owner of Yakóóyó Abula Joint. Babalola says the name of her restaurant means, “when you come in, you’re going to get full with our food.” A celebration of culture and food from different regions of India were available at the Indian Food Festival at Clarke Fields Park. “This event brings the best of Indian flavours that Ottawa has to offer. There’s so many food vendors and product vendors as well. They’re nonstop performances,” said Sagar Vora, co-director of the Indian Food Festival. Indian accessories, clothing and henna were on display and entertainment and games for the family. The Indian Food Festival gives Isha Bhinder a taste of back home when she was young. She is now at the festival with her son to show him her culture and traditions. “It’s really means a lot to me. I get to share with him things that I like, food that I like, food that I enjoy. I grew up eating,” says Bhinder. The festivals run until Sunday.
