Best of Sri Lanka to be dished out at World Spice Food Festival 2011 in Colombo

Following the success of the World Spice Food Festival since 2005, Sri Lanka Tourism is once again staging the World Spice Food Festival 2011 with the aim of showcasing culinary expertise from around the world with added Sri Lankan flavour. The festival will be held from 28 October to 9 November in Colombo.

This year’s event will have unique culinary expertise of world’s best master chefs participating at the World Spice Food Festival 2011, shouldering with their counterparts in the reputed hotels and restaurants in Colombo.

The festival will be an ideal opportunity for tourists who are in transit or holidaying in Sri Lanka to experience variety of delectable cuisine from India, South America, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Italy, Vietnam, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Spain, Singapore, Arabic and not forgetting the Sri Lankan specialties.

The launch of the World Spice Food Festival will be held on 26th October 2011 at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel at 6 pm. Highlight of the World Spice Food Festival taking place at the Green Path from 28 to 30 October 2011, allows visitors and food lovers to participate in the event with easy access and facility of browsing through international theme cuisines food stalls along with friends and families.

The Green Path venue will take on a festive air with live music and cookery demonstrations, Sri Lankan crab cooking competition and special cultural performances giving a truly unforgettable dining experience for the whole family.

Sri Lanka’s hospitality industry has risen to the occasion as always with a combination of 13 top city hotels and five speciality restaurants being enthusiastically involved in ensuring that the master chefs will be on hand to showcase the magical culinary delights, throughout the period. All the participating hotels, with their signature chefs, will have a nine-day fare displaying chosen specialties of international cuisines in their individual hotels and restaurants from 31 October to 9 November 2011 with many attractions.

Hotels and restaurants that will don the chef’s hat at the World Spice Food Festival are, Hilton Colombo (Bavarian) , Ceylon Continental (Malaysian) Cinnamon Lakeside (Singaporean), Cinnamon Grand (Pakistan), Grand Oriental Hotel (Italian), Galle Face Hotel (Indonesian), Galadari Hotel (Arabic), Hilton Residencies ( Chinese), Mt. Lavinia Hotel (Latin American), Ramada Colombo (Indian), Taj Samudra (South African), Waters Edge (Vietnam), The Mango Tree (North Indian), Siam House (Thai), Casa Colombo (Spanish) , Jack Tree (Thai), The Sizzle with their unique sizzlers concept and Raja Bojun (Sri Lankan).

Bjorn Van Der Horst – a three star celebrity chef from New York – will be specially flown down to the World Spice Food Festival 2011 to add much colour and vibrancy while showcasing his world renowned culinary recipes. Five competitions are scheduled during the food festival including Celebrity Chef programme, Signature Cocktail for Sri Lanka Tourism, Spice Tea Competition, Colombo Chicken Curry fiesta and best decorated ice cream contest.

Alpha Orient Lanka, Ceylon Cold Stores, MA’S, Elephant House, Lion Breweries, and Ceylon Tobacco are generously supporting the World Spice Food Festival in a bid to bring Sri Lankans, to witness global cuisine at its best – right here in Sri Lanka. This event mirrors Sri Lanka Tourism’s vision to promote the destination among international travellers, no matter which part of the globe they may be located, as well as to bring them a taste of world class standards offering a range of delectable global cuisine!

Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said: “Sri Lanka is known to the world for its spices, in the ancient time the merchants were attracted to this small island because of our spices.

The spice food festival is celebrates to keep the world informed that Sri Lanka continues to have this very unique attraction for the visitors, to savour the spice cuisine of the World under one roof.”

“Our tourism strategy aims at reaching out to high end niches in emerging markets and we hope to reach that goal through many promotional activities and this is one such programs in our event calendar,” says the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardhana.

During the festival, spices and condiments that are used around the world for therapeutic and taste enhancement of food will be on display under one roof to enable visitors to enlighten themselves on the intricacies in producing quality meals.

The World Spice Food Festival was initiated in 2005 and has evolved since then as a an annual event based on Sri Lanka’s reputation for its abundant spices, to create more dining options for visitors to the country, while providing an opportunity for the Sri Lankan culinary fraternity to exchange culinary know-how with specialty chefs from around the world.

For further information on the World Spice Food Festival visit www.worldspicefoodfestival.com