Creative City of Gastronomy food festival returns

A food festival celebrating China’s trio of UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy – Sichuan’s Chengdu, Guangdong’s Shunde, and the Macau SAR – will return for the second time this September, the organizing committee told a press conference yesterday.

The festival program will feature four main events – a charity dinner to be held on Sept. 24, a “food sharing” session between Sept. 21 and 23, a food tasting session on Sept. 23, a painting exhibition between Sept. 23 and 24, and a forum on Sept. 24.

The charity dinner, the core of the festival, will be held at The Plaza Restaurant. Festival director, Ip Sio Man, told the press conference that a maximum of 60 roundtables are expected on the night. Ip expressed his confidence in attracting at least 600 diners, taking up 50 tables.

Attendance is registered by the purchase of dining vouchers. Each voucher is priced at MOP2,000, but seats will be sold per table. Each table is priced at MOP24,000. As a result, the organizer is confident in securing MOP1.2 million in funds. Proceeds from the dinner will be donated to unconfirmed charity organizations in Macau. Ip recalled that the proceeds from last year’s dinner were trisected for organizations across the three cities.

Some 20 local food and beverage establishments are supporting the “food sharing” session which will take place during both the lunch and dinner hours of the three days. During the three days, customers dining at these restaurants will receive free finger-food sized specialties representing the three cities.

From 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, The Plaza Restaurant will see booths hosted by about a dozen restaurants giving out sample-sized food for the public to taste. Ip foresees that members of the public will be able to try food representing the three cities, and experience the respective cultures.

Art lovers will have the chance to explore paintings and drawings created by artists from the three cities. Ip emphasized that it would be a celebration of not only culinary culture, but also artistic culture, with the ultimate aim of facilitating cross-cultural exchange.

Finally, experts in the cooking industry from the three cities will gather in Macau for a forum to foster the exchange of knowledge and expertise. Ip said that the organizer is planning to sponsor disadvantaged students from some mainland cities to participate in the forum so that they can learn about food culture and develop their interest in cooking. AL