The inaugural Abu Dhabi Food Festival, running from February 5 to 21, will launch with the region’s first Street Feast next month as a caravan of international and local food trucks serve up excellent cuisine from around the world across the UAE emirate.

The new concept makes up one of three courses of the Abu Dhabi Food Festival, which will also incorporate the annual Gourmet Abu Dhabi event, running from February 11 to 20 and the new Emirati Kitchen, being held from February 5 to 7.

This year’s expanded festival has evolved from the Gourmet Abu Dhabi, which was launched in 2009 with the dual aims of raising food and beverage standards within the emirate and promoting Emirati hospitality and traditions.

Street Feast will run over three successive weekends and take place in Madinat Zayed from February 5 to 7; Al Mubazzarah Park in Al Ain from February 12 to 14; and along the Corniche in the UAE capital from February 19 to 21.

Ten international traders will be coming from UK for this event and be joined by numerous Emirati street food vendors who will be representing the best of this exciting new food movement, serving a diverse range of dishes reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of the emirate.

Among the vendors from the UK will be ATE Street Food specialising in slow cooked meat sliders; Indians Next Door offering lamb raan curries in a naan wrap, and Yogusensi with its freshly squeezed fruit bar. Emirati vendors will include SALT, the UAE’s first burger truck; Jones the Grocer with a wide variety of local and international food and Desert Chill – for ice cream lovers.

“Street Feast is a new concept to us here in Abu Dhabi and in fact across the region and is just one direction we are taking to ensure that we stay on top of the latest culinary trends and set new standards of excellence. Partnering with Real Food Festivals, with its wealth of expertise in delivering successful events, ensures we have all the right ingredients for an amazing event,” said Sultan Al Dhaheri, acting executive director Tourism, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), promoters of the Abu Dhabi Food Festival.

Bringing more than a decade of experience in running street food festivals across the UK to the emirate, Real Food Festivals, a division of Food Market Events, is responsible for arranging some of the largest and most popular food events held in Britain.

The London-based company has been responsible for the annual Real Food Festival, attracting 400 exhibitors and 25,000 paid customers as well as the Real Food Festival Southbank Centre in London in 2012, which attracted 150 exhibitors and 300,000 free entry visitors.

Apart from the food, visitors will also be entertained by teams of international chefs sharing their culinary skills and a live music stage featuring contemporary and traditional Emirati artists.

Street Feast on Abu Dhabi Corniche will also attempt to set a new world record by creating the world’s longest shawarma. The current record is set at 42.6 metres, but Fatafeat chef Andrew Mitchell plans to smash that by creating a shawarma 100-m long with the help of 300 volunteers. – TradeArabia News Service