If a food-exploring trip is your thing and you’ve always been fascinated with Indonesian and Southeast Asian culinary trails, you might be happy to learn a festival about just that will be coming to Bali soon. What’s more, everyone is invited.
Photos: Ubud Food Festival © Anggara Mahendra
The festival is none other than the Ubud Food Festival – a sister event of the annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali, Indonesia. The Ubud Food Festival will kick off a three-day culinary adventure from 5 to 7 June 2015, serving up a programme rich in food mythology, authenticity and of course, taste.
You can expect to meet some of Indonesia’s culinary greats, international chefs bringing their rendition of food-fusion and industry heavyweights from Southeast Asia and beyond. The Ubud Food Festival is set to delight and inspire, featuring a range of ticketed and free events, cooking demos, workshops, food forums, markets, food tours, wine tastings, film screenings and a whole lot more. For a foodie like me, that is certainly my kind of weekend escape.
Photos: Ubud Food Festival © Anggara Mahendra
Heading the line-up are the stars of Indonesian culinary landscape including global icon Sri Owen, TV personalities Bara Pattiradjawane and Bondan Winarno, social and food culturalist Rahung Nasution, and culinary expert William Wongso. From the bursting Bali food scene comes Will Goldfarb of Room4Dessert, Chris Salans of Mozaic and Eelke Plasmeijer of Locavore, El Bulli-trained chef Kevin Cherkas of Cuca, as well as some of the island’s finest dining venues including Hujan Locale, Bridges and Fivelements.
The festival will also bring together industry heavyweights working in Southeast Asia and the globe. With their restaurants recently named in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, Australian BBQ fanatic Dave Pynt and former head-chef of Melbourne’s Vue de Monde Ryan Clift of The Tippling Club (do not miss the exclusive dinner at Bridges) will be bringing their expertise to the table, along with renowned pastry chefs, Janice Wong of 2am:dessertbar from Singapore and Chef Wan from Malaysia.
Photos: Ubud Food Festival © Matt Oldfield
Janet DeNeefe, the founder and Director of the Ubud Food Festival, explained why food enthusiasts are encouraged to make the time to visit UFF: “The UFF is about taking a journey, to understand its past, present and future. We also want to strengthen linkages within the local and international culinary community, cementing Indonesia as one of the best food destinations in the world.”
Visit the website of Ubud Food Festival for a complete range of programs, speakers’ profiles and accommodation information. Festival goers are advised to book ticketed sessions in advance as space is limited. UFF organizer also regularly features their speakers on the festival’s Facebook page.
What: Ubud Food Festival
When: 5 to 7 June 2015
Where: The festival will take place at two main venues in Ubud, Bali: Indus Restaurant and Taman Baca, both located on Jalan Raya Sanggingan, Ubud, Bali. Separate dining events related to the festival are hosted by nearby restaurants. Check the full program for more details.
Tickets: Tickets are available online via www.ubudfoodfestival.com.
