The Dubai Food Festival 2015 is set to bring 23 days of food-inspired events to Dubai.
2015 will be the festival's second edition. This year the event will focus on four themes: Emirati Cuisine, Homegrown restaurants, Multi-cultural Dining and Street Food and International Chefs and Restaurants.
With exclusive and new events set to include the region's-first foodie film nights, Dubai Food & Film, and nine back-to-back celebrity chef cooking sensations as part of the new-for-2015 and Middle East's first, Fatafeat Kitchen, the Festival will also welcome a fleet of the city's favorite food trucks in the Food Truck Convoy. Another highlight comes in the form of celebrity chef's taking over the kitchens of the Dubai Creek's iconic floating restaurants as part of Dine On The Creek.
The event will also bring back 2014 event favorites, Beach Canteen, Dubai Food Carnival, Taste of Peru, GulFood and the Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF) amongst many more, to satisfy the culinary cravings of Dubai's visiting and resident foodies.
DFF 2015 headliners include the Michelin-starred Jason Atherton, award-winning Greg Malouf, TV favorite Sanjeev Kapoor, Queen of the Arabic Kitchen, Manal Al Alem, critically-acclaimed chef and best-selling author, Silvena Rowe, and the renowned Saudi Arabian Super Chef Yousef Khumayes, many of whom have restaurants in the Emirate.
The new-for-2015 Made In Dubai event (February 27 - 28 at Zabeel Park) will pay particular homage to Emirati hospitality and culture, as it showcases 96 Emirati dishes through tastings and master classes with local chefs.
The 2015 Beach Canteen, which this year takes residence at Kite Beach for the entirety of the Festival (February 6 - 28), plays host to nine of Dubai's homegrown restaurants and concepts. Offering visitors a unique beach dining experience, the Beach Canteen will also serve up pop-up restaurants from celebrity chefs, Jason Atherton (February 26 - 28), Sanjeev Kapoor (February 21) and Yousef Khamayes (February 6 - 7) and a variety of other entertainment. Similarly, the Urban Bazaar local foodie street market (February 6, The Archive, Safa Park and February 27, Creekside, Bur Dubai) will host stalls showcasing homegrown concepts.
Celebrating multicultural dining and street food, DFF will welcome homegrown food trucks including local favorites Moti Roti, Raw Coffee and Burger Fuel, to take part in the Food Truck Convoy (Various dates). The trucks will arrive at key locations including Tecom, JLT and Emaar Square throughout the Festival, serving up the very best street food cuisine. DFF will also welcome Street Nights (February 20 - 21), which will pair street art with street food in the city's up-and-coming arts precinct, Al Quoz. Similarly, a showcase of award-winning street-food photographer Penny De La Santos' images of the multicultural dining and street food on offer in Dubai will be on show at Dubai Airport during February.
Regional and international celebrity chefs will appear at Fatafeat Kitchen (February 20 - 21), which will welcome nine in total including Egyptian cuisine expert Chef Salma Soliman to take part in live cooking demonstrations. Another of the Festival's inaugural events, Dine On The Creek (Various dates, to be announced soon), will see celebrity chefs including Sanjeev Kapoor, Manal Al Alem and Yousef Khumayes serve up their internationally award-winning dishes in traditional Emirati surroundings.