Traditional flavours at Bahrain food festival

A BLEND of taste and tradition, seasoned with colours of music and dance are the highlights of this year’s food festival.

The annual Bahrain Food Festival 2020 is a complete destination for individuals or families wanting to spend an evening with some delicious cuisines, talented local artists and the serene waters at The Park, Bahrain Bay.

Traditional

The fifth edition of the event, organised by the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), showcases cuisines from around the world, live cooking stations, a heritage village, and a line-up of entertainment acts including stilt walkers, mascots, traditional dances, and modern musical performances.

The heritage village, which is being held for the first time this year, resembles a garden in a Bahraini household and features Bahraini men dressed in traditional clothes dancing to customary tunes.

The men dance as women serve freshly fried tamia and samboosa, while others work on the meticulous halwa making in addition to a traditional roastery selling crispy nuts and spices.

Another attraction is the LuLu Hypermarket pavilion, which is one of the largest stalls at the festival, catering a range of ready to eat food as well as live cooking and barbecue stations.

The pavilion in the middle of the festival venue hosts chefs from India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Australia, and Bahrain.

“The whole idea of being part of the festival is to add value to the event, as well as to position the brand LuLu,” said LuLu Hypermarket Bahrain and Egypt director Juzer Rupawala.

“We are bringing in chefs from around the world and making special cuisines, and we are working on very competitive price points.

“Events like these are great social gatherings and we want to be part of it and support the initiatives of the ministry because this how the economy works and we boost our trade as well as others.”

The festival was opened by Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed Alzayani alongside BTEA chief executive Nader Almoayyed and Supreme Council for Environment chief executive Dr Mohammed Bin Daina.

This year’s festival is also set apart by an eco-friendly approach that endorses Bahrain’s social responsibility, with three initiatives – a food bank, a cooking oil collection point, and a glass and plastic recycling unit.

The food bank collects the leftover food every night and distributes it to people in need across the country, while the used cooking oil will be given to a local factory to be converted to bio-fuel, and plastic and glass waste will be collected for recycling.

“This is another spin-off from this food festival is that we took in the angle of being socially responsible towards the environment,” said Mr Alzayani on the sidelines of the opening.

“We thank the companies who took the initiative – we have launched three initiatives in this event.

“Every night excess food will be collected and distributed around Bahrain so as to minimise the waste and we have also placed stations for recycling of plastic and glass materials used in the festival.

“So we are proud of these and it is one of many initiatives we plan to do as our bit in supporting the environment and local community.”

Dr Bin Daina, meanwhile, explained that the used cooking oil will be collected and given to a recently opened private factory in the country where it will be converted to bio-fuel.

Initiatives

“All the three initiatives focus on ensuring the festival is environment-friendly,” he said.

“The food bank aims to collect the remaining food every night to be distributed, while there is a point to collect glass and plastic for recycling.

“Now we have a lot of fried items going on sale here and there is leftover oil, so we will collect this oil and give it to a factory in Bahrain where it will be converted to bio-fuel.”

The first stage of the festival will continue until February 29 while the second stage will be held from March 5 to 14, with participation from more than 200 restaurants over the two periods.