Group of Chef at Opening Ceremony
The Second edition of the Hoi An International Food Festival took place from 20th to 26th March 2017 at the An Hoi Sculpture Park in Hoi An, an Ancient Town declared as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1999.
On behalf of the Ambassador, Ms. Srimali Jayayarathna, Second Secretary (Commercial) attended the Opening Ceremony on 22nd March 2017 on the invitation extended by Keerthi Hapugasdeniya, the Co-Founder and CEO of the Hoi An Culinary Event, which was supported by the Embassy of Sri Lanka.
Prior to the Hoi An Food Festival this year, Ambassador of Sri Lanka hosted a Reception on 18th January 2017 at her official Residence to introduce the organizers of Hoi An International Food Festival 2017.
The food festival welcomed 12 chefs from Sri Lanka, Finland, Greece, Germany, Russia, India, Mauritius, Taiwan, Sweden, Slovenia, Malaysia and USA. At the event chefs, could exchange experiences in culinary activities including sharing cooking skills with local chefs, cooking demonstrations, etc. Chef Dimuthu Kumarasinghe, a renowned culinary celebrity represented Sri Lanka. Last year Sri Lanka was represented by Master Chef, Dr. Pabilis. All the chefs demonstrated their countries’ culinary specialties, using the finest locally sourced Vietnamese ingredients.
Mr. Hapugasdeniya made a comprehensive introduction of the event at the Opening Ceremony. He is an award winning Sri Lankan Chef currently residing in Australia, and Ms. Trinh Diem Vy, Chairperson of the Hoi An Culinary Events demonstrated some of Viet Nam’s traditional cuisines.
Sri Lankan Chef_with others
The aims of the festival is to introduce and promote different kinds of traditional cuisines and food cultures to the Hoi An Ancient Town while promoting Vietnamese cuisine to the foreign chefs.
The event marked a milestone in progress of bringing the best culinary practices and tourism to Hoi An, while brining Vietnamese cuisine to the world. Meanwhile, the President of World Association of Chef’s Societies (WACS), Thomas A. Gugler awarded a Certificate of Honour as a Cuisine Capital of Vietnam to Hoi An at the Opening Ceremony of the festival.
Sri Lankan stall
Ambassadors, diplomatic officers of the 12 participating countries and an official from the Ha Noi People’s Committee participated in the event.
The final day consisted the Closing Ceremony (on 26th March 2017), with an awards ceremony for chefs and participating restaurants presented by the Hoi An People's Committee. The event was followed by an elaborated Closing Ceremony with dancing performances and singing at the sculpture garden, lights and music.
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Ha Noi
27th March 2017
