Doha
More than 170,000 visitors and tourists attended the five-day Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) 2015 which concluded on Saturday at the Museum of Islamic Art Park.
Organised by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) and Qatar Airways, the festival showcased Qatari, Gulf, Arabic, and international cuisine at the festival's different zones.
The International zone showcased dishes from 31 of Doha's most high profile restaurants with 69 participants.
A number of celebrity chefs prepared sumptuous international dishes at Qatar Airways’ Live Cooking Theatre, which included high-tech equipment and a seating area for more than 100 people to watch and participate in the live demonstrations.
“QIFF is a great platform to showcase global cuisines and to show Qatar's culinary delights as well as the elegance of its variety of hotels and restaurants,” said QTA's chief marketing and promotions Officer Rashed al-Qurese.
He expressed confidence that the success of the festival will create a positive impact in the tourism and hospitality sector. QTA sees more innovation and creativity in next year's edition.
“We are delighted to see the high turnout of tourists and visitors who attended QIFF's sixth edition,” said al-Qurese. “I would like to thank all participants, partners, and sponsors who helped to make this event a great success.”
He noted that they always seek to make the festival exceed all expectations every year by hosting a larger number of restaurants and exhibitors.
Visitors and tourists also enjoyed the wide-ranging entertainment activities that catered to family members of all ages and tastes as the MIA’s beautiful green spaces were crowded with families enjoying the festivities. Music performances and fireworks filled the atmosphere with joy during the festival.
Hotels and tourist facilities in Qatar saw a huge increase in the number of regional and international visitors during the five-day event.
“Authentic Qatari hospitality is at the heart of our business, and we are very pleased that this year’s festival provided visitors with the opportunity to experience Qatar Airways’ hospitality and Business Class menu and taste the delicious food that our internationally renowned chefs prepare for our passengers on board of our five-star flights,” said Salam al-Shawa, senior vice president of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways’ Live Cooking Theatre attracted a large number of visitors, giving them a chance to taste delicious food cooked live by top chefs, including celebrity Chef Vineet Bhatia and Chef Massimo Capra who stunned the audience with their culinary skills.
QIFF's sixth edition included a wide range of areas including a special entertainment zone specifically targeting families. Tourists and visitors sampled mouth-watering local and Turkish dishes at the Qatar Turkey 2015 Year of Culture zone, where delicious food was prepared under traditional Qatari tents.
The Instagram Market zone was filled with stalls from top Qatari female chefs who are active on Instagram for live preparations of local dishes as the organisers are supporting local culinary talents and intend to promote the festival on social media channels.
The five-day festival included an exciting program of contests, workshops and live cooking activities.
Qatar Airways’ Live Cooking Theater provided the audience with the opportunity to learn how to cook enabling them to meet celebrity chefs. Live cooking sessions, consisting of 30 minutes each, were organised for those who wished to learn culinary arts with the help of skillful chefs.
The activity also provided training to prepare Qatari cuisine, providing 50 participating professional hotel chefs in Qatar with guidelines and tips on how to prepare traditional and fusion Qatari dishes.
The training was delivered by two skillful chefs, Qatari cuisine expert Chef Aisha al-Tamimi and renowned Kuwaiti Chef Fawwaz al-Amim.
Qatar culinary professionals also held an ice sculpting competition while Philips sponsored an amateur cooking contest.
This year’s festival hosted number of new activities among those is the High Tea-Lounge zone by the Kempinski. The festival this year also saw participation of Fetafeat famous Chefs, Chef Salma Soliman and Chef Daad Abu Jaber. Also among participants was Kulluna for health and safety initiative.
In addition, the Festival hosted this year BBQ Doughnut by Diplomatic Club. Souq Waqif Boutique hotels sponsored the “Dinner on a dhow” activity.
