A sumptuous lunch at Kwita Izina

That the country hosted the world in Kinigi, Musanze for Kwita Izina last Saturday is no longer news. Rather, the juicy story now is what happened after the ceremony. For the thousands of officially invited guests, it seemed to come as a bonus, if not surprise, that the day would be crowned with a mega free luncheon. After all, people had been enduring lengthy queues and forking out hard cash at the Bourbon Coffee stall all day long, just for Espresso. Being my first time at Kwita Izina, I was pleasantly surprised when someone from RDB slid a yellow meal coupon into my hands that read: “For your lunch –Tent 3, Kwita Izina 2014”. With the gorillas already named and the ceremony officially closed, there couldn’t have been a better-sounding phrase than this. There were three tents in all, and tent three where I was assigned appeared to be the “general happiness” area, in that not only was it the biggest, it had a mixed crowd –from students, members of the press, tourists, and local tour operators. Tent two also had a fairly mixed crowd, while tent one was set aside for high profile guests. The tables were superbly set and laid, with a fair range of drinks on each –a sachet of milk, bottles of wine, water, soda and juice, and a range of the popular local beers –Amstel, Mutzig and Heinekken. But luncheon food comes with its own problems, in that owing to the large numbers, people will do everything to get ahead of the queue because no one wants to take chances. Perhaps one thing the organizers ignored is the power of free food and drink to bring out man’s true nature, and the results were there for all to see: Much as security was tight at the entry points to keep intruders away, inside the marquee, it was a case of survival for the fittest –something that worked well in the VIP tent but not the two for “general happiness”. In tent three, as the crowds grew bigger, it came down to good old push-and-shove, and this behavior did not discriminate age, gender, social status or physical energy. Then jumping of the queue was taken to a whole new level –all in the name of not missing out on the food. The wait staff manning the long buffet table had a field day, refilling the trays of food to cope with the large crowd. The ones that waited the tables did a great job too, popping up behind you just when you needed a refill of your wine glass or a fresh napkin. Talking of wine, it is not every day that you have a bottle of wine all to yourself to accompany a large meal, which is the reason many shied away from it initially. But after a few bottles had been popped open, the trend spread like a virus and soon, Amstel, Mutzig and Heinekken were being replaced by glasses of red and white wines. The food was as good as anything you have seen at a good four or five star buffet –and plentiful too, and it catered well to the needs of local and foreign guests alike.