The inaugural Dubai Food Festival, organised by Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) - an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) - concluded with the Taste of Dubai recently.
The 23-day-festival saw eleven events take place, and over 700 eateries host and participate in a series of food-related events, tastings, activations and promotions. Twenty-six international chefs, including India’s Sanjeev Kapoor, participated in it.
The others included Britain’s Silvena Rowe; France’s Jean Christophe Novelli; the Food Network’s Reza Mahammad; Australia’s Greg and Lucy Malouf, Egypt’s Manal Al Alem, and Lebanon’s Maroun Chedid.
It kicked off with the Dubai Food Carnival. Other events that were a part of it were Gulfood 2014, the Grand Kerala Festival, The Big Grill, The Taste of Peru and the Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF).
The Global Village hosted the Global Barbeque Fiesta. The Dubai Food Festival Beach Canteen debuted on three of the city’s beaches (Jumeirah 1 Open Beach, Sunset Beach and Kite Beach). It featured 16 pop-up restaurants.
Laila Mohammed Suhail, chief executive officer, DFRE, said, “The inaugural Dubai Food Festival was a true demonstration of the emirate’s ascension as a vibrant and unique culinary capital.”
“It provided a platform to showcase and demonstrate our rapidly expanding food and restaurant sector, and established another compelling reason for Dubai residents to celebrate and international guests to visit,” she added.
“The success of the inaugural Dubai Food Festival is not only testament to our extraordinary gastronomy offer, but also the tireless dedication of our partners and the unparallelled professionalism and creativity of the local food and hospitality industry,” Suhail said.
She added that the 2014 edition set a great benchmark for future essays of the festival, and they looked forward to an even more exciting celebration in 2015.
Restaurants, malls and hypermarkets across Dubai also got in on the appetising action with a series of activities and specials.
Restaurants - ranging from the five-star Blue Jade to chic yet casual cafés such as Bateel Café - created special set menus and special dining promotions to commemorate the festival.
Malls, including Dubai Mall and Deira City Centre organised ten in-mall shows and gave shoppers the opportunity to experience diverse cuisines at food court outlets, as well as the opportunity to win grand gourmet experiences.
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) leading hypermarket chains also ran unique promotions designed to reward shoppers at sixty of their Dubai-based outlets.
Shoppers spending AED 250 at Spinneys, Carrefour, Union Coop or Lulu during the festival had the chance to win the weekly prizes, estimated to be worth AED 1.2 million.
In the festival’s second week, it launched the Dubai Food Festival Gourmet Trail, which mapped a sampling of the 5,400-plus restaurants, bistros, canteens and cafés that operate in the emirate.
With over 100 restaurants, representing some of the most unique and best Arabic, world, five-star, low-cost and secret dining experiences available in Dubai, the Trail was a collaboration between the festival and eminent food bloggers based in the emirate.
These included Shaikha Al Ali of When Shaikha Cooks; Samantha Wood of FooDiva; Sarah Walton of The Hedonista; Tala Soubra of Fork it Over Dubai, Saba Wahid of Culinary Delights, and Karen McLean of Secret Squirrel Food.
