10th Sharjah Food Festival kicks off at four tourist destinations in Sharjah

The 10th edition of Sharjah Food Festival, organised by the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), kicked off the day before yesterday (Thursday) in four of the emirate’s premier tourist destinations, including Al Qasba, Al Majaz Waterfront, Al Montazah and Heart of Sharjah.

The 10-day culinary event, featuring many exciting activities such as live cooking demonstrations by international celebrity chefs and culinary competitions, live as well as entertainment for foodies and restaurant lovers of all ages, will run until April 9. 

Over the past two days, thousands of visitors and tourists from various parts of the UAE flocked to Sharjah's most popular destinations to enjoy the unique atmosphere and gain more experience in cooking and learn unique methods of cooking selected dishes during live cooking shows presented by a group of world's top chefs, apart from many other surprises and entertaining events designed for visitors of various nationalities and cultural backgrounds.

Al Majaz Waterfornt, a leading leisure and tourist destination in Sharjah, saw an overwhelming turnout by visitors on the festival's first day, where Kuwaiti Chef Fawaz Al Omaim, known as "Namnam Chef" on social networking sites, revealed some of his secrets in preparing meals with flavours that represent various cuisines. As part of "Cooking with the Chef”, Al Omaim displayed his skills in preparing "Chicken Burger" in cooperation with the audience.

Chef Fawaz, who participates for the first time in this culinary event, expressed his admiration for the festival's idea and the public's interaction with it. "Sharjah Food Festival is one of major events that allow us to share our knowledge about world's various cuisines and food flavours. Through this demonstration, I tried to create a direct interaction with the audience, while providing them with different information about ways of preparing different sauces and flavours derived from the Eastern and Western cuisines."

Coming from India, the land of spices, award- winning and Michelin Starred Chef “Vineet Bhatia”, who received a Michelin star for each of his two restaurants, captured the attention of visitors during his participation in celebrity chefs live cookery demonstrations. He astonished the audience with some secrets of Indian cuisine. As he impressed by the idea of the Festival, Chef Bhatia, said: "This is my first participation in the Sharjah Food Festival, and I am happy with this participation which reflected the audience's passion to learn about the components of the Indian cuisine and techniques of making formulas of spices and preparing Indian dishes, giving the audience a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the authentic taste of Indian food."

Meanwhile, Al Majaz Waterfront saw other culinary events designated for visitors who participated in a range of competitions and challenges that unveiled their talents in cooking and preparing fast food. 

Al Qasba, Sharjah's premiere tourist, leisure and family destination, saw an array of cookery and entertaining activities that attracted the audience which enjoyed the show cooking competition between the staff of Sharjah Environment Company "Bee'ah", who called themselves the "Green Team", and the staff of Sharjah Discovery Centre “Explorers Team”, who competed in an atmosphere dominated by the spirit of cooperation between the two teams.

During the one-hour competition, each team prepared main food dish and sweet dish served alongside salad. The green team prepared " Machboos Laham”, also called "Lamb Machboos", decorated with nuts, an Arab salad, and Dates Dessert with honey and strawberry. The Explorers Team displayed their skills in preparing rice with meat and Moroccan salad, and strawberry honey dessert with nuts. The contest ended with the victory of the Green Team over the Explorers Team. The competition was judged by two professional chefs on the grounds of cooking criteria in terms of taste, external view and hygiene standards.  

The Heart of Sharjah- one of Shurooq’s largest tourist and heritage projects- saw cookery competitions between amateur chefs, and also cooking competitions between families. Al Montazah Amusement and Water Park hosted the "Junior Chef challenge” for children aged 9 to 13 years, in addition to the event "My Father Can Cook." 

Ahmed Obaid Al Qaseer, Chief Operating Officer of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), said: “The Sharjah Food Festival is one of the major entertainment and family events in Sharjah and the UAE where such festival help promote tourism and offer families and friends an opportunity to explore the pleasure of dining with friends and tasting a wide range of delicious dishes." 

The festival also featured many interactive and exciting shows that brought joy and happiness to audiences. They varied between comedy, circus, and musical performances, adding more to the festival, which is witnessing year-to-year success.

There are also a wide range of entertaining events designated for children who will enjoy entertainment by the characters of famous animated TV series "Sesame Street", namely, Grover, Elmo, Earnie, Anis, Bader, Cookies Monster and Noman, who were present in Al Majaz Waterfront on the first day. The famous cartoon characters roomed among children who gathered around them to take memorial pictures with them. The famous cartoon characters then proceeded to other destinations to meet other children. 

On April 2, Al Qasba's visitors will enjoy another culinary competition between Shurooq staff that will take place from 4:30-5:30pm, along with cookery competitions between the staff of Sharjah government departments which will take place from 7-8pm.   

Al Qasba's visitors will also be thrilled with two exciting shows by Italian artist Luigi and Spanish artist "El  Kote" at 5pm, 7pm, 8:30pm, and10:00pm. They will also learn about the golden rules for health promotion and disease prevention during an educational lecture at 5:30pm.

Visitors to Al Majaz Waterfront will experience one of the most diverse culinary experiences as celebrity chefs will provide a variety of world-class signature dishes. 

Among these is Kuwaiti chef Sami Al Sherida who will demonstrate his expertise in the culinary art as part of the live culinary demonstrations by celebrity chefs during which visitors will learn unique methods of cooking select dishes.  French Chef Cataldo and Italian artist Katie Santos will enthrall visitors with four entertaining shows from 8:30 to 10pm. 

Cooking Competitions between armature chefs will continue at The Heart of Sharjah, and will take place from 7-8pm, while family culinary competitions will take place from 8:30-9:30pm. The Little Chef Challenge will continue at Al Montazah from 5:30-6:30pm, while the event "My Father Can Cook" will be held at 8:30pm.