Middle East's only gourmet show to host region's top chefs

The Speciality Food Festival, the Middle East’s only dedicated gourmet and fine food trade show, which opens tomorrow (TUESDAY), will not only showcase some of the world’s finest gourmet products and ingredients to the region’s leading industry professionals, it will also offer inspiration from the region’s top chefs conducting live and interactive cooking demonstrationsduring the three day show.

Taking place from 25 – 27 October 2011 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Speciality Food Festival was launched last year to provide international access the Middle East’s highly lucrative premium food market and offer prime opportunities for regional suppliers to expand overseas. Companies from around the world will present a diverse selection of fine foods, from special breed meats and seafood to luxury chocolates, fresh organic produceand some of the rarest ingredients sought after by chefs in the region.

The Chef’s Corner feature includes catering demonstrations as diverse as convection cooking, molecular desserts, South American Snacks and Nibbles, Arabic Finger Foods, Pralines and Chocolates and Speciality Ice Creams, presented by six regional gourmet chefs.

Having expanded by 300% since the inaugural event and with 12 more countries participating, the Speciality Food Festival provides an exclusive forum for international chefs, buyers and suppliers to sample, review, showcase and source products, and is a platform for focussed networking. Additional opportunities for knowledge exchange will be presented through a series of educational seminars from experts including Euromonitor International and Dubai Government.

“The Middle East has one of the fastest growing high-end hospitality marketsin the world which naturally leads to an ever-increasing need for speciality products that can complement this growth. The Speciality Food Festival brings a truly global selection of international fine food and offers the ultimate opportunity for chefs, buyers and suppliers to conduct new business and meet with potential new partners.” said Trixee Loh, Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre, organiser of the event. 

The 2011 edition of The Speciality Food Festival will showcase an even broader range of premium products throughout its four sectors – Gourmet, Seafood, Halal and Organic from across the world, including countries exhibiting for the first time such as Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Combined with the co-located events Sweets & Snacks Middle East, Sweet & SnackTec Middle East and The International Travel Catering Association Exhibition (ITCA Dubai), all four dedicated food industry events will run alongside each other providing visitors and exhibitors alike with the perfect trading, networking and cross-selling environment.