Singapore Food Festival

GTS Productions / Shutterstock.com
An annual event that is being held this year from the 15th to the 31st of July, the Singapore Food Festival is celebrated throughout the island of Singapore, consisting of food-related events, culinary workshops and demonstrations, themed celebrations and competitions. The main theme for the festival this year is “Savour the Past, Taste the Future”, highlighting Singapore’s local flavors while showcasing the innovative spirit of Singapore’s food scene.
STREAT
The signature event of the Singapore Food Festival each year, STREAT will be returning again in 2016, featuring award-winning local chefs. The event will feature a pop-up restaurant that will be serving up a specially curated five-course dinner that promises to elevate iconic street food dishes, and there will also be 10 popular hawker chefs present, cooking up a range of local and progressive dishes.
50 Cent Fest!
From the 30th to the 31st of July, Singapore’s Chinatown Food Street will be transformed into a foodie wonderland, lined with several delicious street stalls, as well as buskers and street entertainers. The local dishes on sale here will all be sold in small 50 cent portions, enabling visitors to really sample a different taste from each stall.
Open Stoves
Open Stoves is a special event that will be held from the 23rd to the 24th of July, and features a BBQ outdoor kitchen, live cooking demonstrations, live music from local bands, and even neon beer pong. This is a great event for those who want a behind-the-scenes peek into the kitchen, where resident and guest chefs will be creating new and innovative dishes in full view of their audience.
Recreating History
As Singapore has developed over the years, certain areas of the country, which were once go-to places for local dishes, lost their foodie charm. This year’s Singapore Food Festival aims to recreate that in certain areas of the country, bringing back the food stalls that once lined the Farrer Park district, as well as highlighting the heritage of certain eateries, such as the landmark hawker center, East Coast Lagoon Food Village.
Singapore Restaurant Month 2016
Singapore Restaurant Month runs in conjunction with the Singapore Food Festival and is part of the Health Promotion Board’s quest to encourage the public to eat healthier foods. There are 46 restaurants taking part in Singapore Restaurant Month, 10 of which are heritage establishments, and they have come up with 95 exclusive and wholesome dishes, which have been inspired by traditional local dishes. Each dish is under 500 calories, showing that it is most definitely possible for authentic local dishes to still be just as delicious, but much healthier. Some of the dishes that you can expect to sample are the Steamed Sea Bass with Spicy Chilli and Lime Sauce from Nara Thai, and the Eight Treasures Box filled with delicate steamed dumplings from Shin Yeh.
The Singapore Food Festival is always a highly anticipated event, with Singaporeans in general quite passionate about their food. Each of the special events that will be held in honor of the festival promise to not only showcase the way in which local food has held onto its heritage over the years, but also bring to light the innovative new dishes that have been putting Singapore at the forefront of the culinary world in recent years.