The capital’s international culinary event is now in its sixth year. We take a look back at previous editions.
2009
This was Gourmet Abu Dhabi’s inaugural year, launched as an initiative to promote the emirate as a global culinary destination. The event lasted ten days and brought together culinary experts from around the world, including Annie Féolde, Heinz Beck, Atul Kochhar, Alain Soliveres, Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex, Marco Sacco, Sam Leong and Ian Wright. The city’s finest establishments hosted the festival, which featured a total of 43 events, such as culinary master classes, chef’s table lunches, special themed dinners, gourmet safaris, gala dinners and even a kitchen party, allowing all involved to exchange skills and share knowledge.
2010
Now in its second year, Gourmet Abu Dhabi 2010 attracted some 6,200 attendees – a 26 percent increase over the previous year. The festival was also expanded from ten to 15 days. As in the previous year, the city attracted a cast of masterchefs (sharing a total of 23 Michelin stars), celebrities and guests, including Canadian chef Bob Blumer – all hosted in 18 of the capital’s finest restaurants and outlets. The festival featured a host of activities that included château dinners, a gourmet safari, a gourmet golf experience, an Arabian feast and a series of free-to-attend masterclasses (including three reserved exclusively for ladies).
2011
The third edition of Gourmet Abu Dhabi was held under the theme ‘The Fine Art of Food’, and the festival was extended to 16 days. A star-studded roster, including three-Michelin-starred Chef Bruno Menard, Australian chef royalty, Tetsuya Wakuda and British celebrity chef James Martin, headlined some of the event’s epicurean promotions, free-to-attend masterclasses and signature dinners. The event’s curtain call – the Gourmet Abu Dhabi Stars Awards – was again bestowed on individuals and restaurants deemed to have most significantly contributed to the evolution of the domestic F&B scene, with ten awards presented
by His Excellency Saif Mohammed Ali Al Hajari, Chairman of Abu Dhabi National Hotels. A total of 265.2 million calories were consumed throughout the festival.
2012
The fourth instalment of Gourmet Abu Dhabi saw a host of international masterchefs heap praise on the emirate’s locally-sourced produce – everything from fish and dates to vegetables and meats – and urge the local industry to safeguard traditional cooking techniques and recipes. Australia’s Chef George Calombaris, known for his involvement with television show Masterchef Australia, made an appearance during the festival, updating his celebrity dinner menu to include dates bought at Mina Zayed Date Market, while Chef Roy Brett, who hosted Gourmet Abu Dhabi’s first Scottish dinner, toured the emirate’s fish market for local produce that was subsequently incorporated in his five-course menu. Elsewhere, Japanese celebrity Chef Hal Yamashita urged local hospitality players to protect the longevity of the country’s traditional cuisine and cooking methods, and Chef Khuloud Atiq became the first female Emirati chef to participate in the festival, also launching a new cookery book featuring 80 locally-inspired recipes.
2013
Last year’s festival introduced various new culinary initiatives, with a focus on traditional Emirati dining and local ingredients. Over 15 days, 21 international masterchefs took charge of a series of revamped events, including returning favourites such as the Gourmet Golf Experience and refreshed masterclass sessions that saw the original practical workshops repackaged into highly-focussed, two-day Culinary Creation Stages. The latter were led by two of the UAE’s brightest up-and-coming gastronomy stars, Saba Wahid and Faisal Naser, and featured six chefs per day cooking off in a six-hour marathon of live demonstrations, presentations and a standing buffet lunch. Other notable ‘firsts’ included the Murder by Chocolate Dinner and a Caviar Night, with culinary stars including one of Japan’s hottest young chefs, Shinichiro Takagi, Ireland’s favourite television chef and cookbook author, Rachel Allen, and world-renowned Dutch mixologist, Robert Schinkel.
Elsewhere, two new Gourmet Stars Awards were introduced to mark the festival’s fifth outing: ‘Best Use of Local Produce by a Chef’ and a ‘Best Sustainability Award’. The former was determined by the best use of local produce in recipes submitted by chefs or food professionals based in Abu Dhabi, based on five criteria: taste, originality, creativity, presentation and preparation. The latter award recognised an organisation, campaign, initiative or establishment that demonstrates leadership and commitment to the enhancement, preservation and protection of specific produce and ingredients indigenous to Abu Dhabi.
