The Singapore Food Festival (SFF) was created by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in 1994 to brand Singapore as a top foodie destination, by showcasing the best of its local delicacies.
As part of the SingapoRediscovers campaign, SFF goes virtual for the first time. Themed “Rediscover the Foodie in You”, this year’s festival takes place across two weekends, 21-23 August and 28-30 August.
While there will be no “Streats”, SFF’s signature outdoor dining event, the first-ever virtual edition boasts four components, namely: Live Masterclasses, Food Bundles, Virtual Food Tours and SFF food merchandise. Here are the events you shouldn’t miss at Singapore Food Festival 2020!
Live Masterclasses
The Live Masterclasses, which are free-to-view, offer a behind-the-scenes look into the creative process by renowned chefs and experts. Viewers in Singapore and overseas can tune in to a total of 17 masterclasses, featuring award-winning chefs as well as bartenders.
If you wish to participate in live cooking masterclasses, ingredient packs can be purchased and delivered to your doorstep prior to the live sessions. Selected masterclasses will also offer limited slots for in-person interaction at restaurants.
Food Bundles
Streats is coming to your home. Mobile marketplace Shopee will be selling “Food Bundles” that festival-goers can order for delivery. These food bundles feature offerings and dishes that Live Masterclass chefs and presenters demonstrate at their culinary tutorial sessions.
Some of the bundle highlights are: Damn Easy Hokkien Mee by Chef Ming Tan, Kueh Kuehs by Jeremy Nguee of Mrs Kueh and Claire Ariela Shen of Cooking Art.
Virtual Food Tours
For foodies who also love exploring, the Virtual Food Tours will let you rediscover Singapore’s precincts with a Singapore TV personality, Chua Enlai. You can learn more about the history and heritage of the precincts and the food secrets there.
Districts covered by the tour include the historical Tanjong Pagar and Chinatown precincts; as well as Katong and Joo Chiat. The tour features stories behind popular eats in the area, tales behind its heritage food businesses, and lesser-known food gems.
There will be limited slots available for participants to join local tour guides on a physical guided tour over the two weekends, with more details available on the SFF website.
SFF food merchandise
Finally, foodies will be treated to SFF food merchandise such as Uniqlo’s UTme! range of T-shirts with eight exclusive limited-edition designs featuring famous hawker dishes such as laksa, kueh tutu and nasi lemak. These are created for SFF 2020 by local illustrator, Mandy Kew.
Local craft brewery, Brewerkz, has developed an SFF exclusive beer, Passion Gao Siew Dai, to accompany the delicious festival dishes. Glico x Wee Nam Kee’s collaboration this year to produce Chicken Rice Pretz will surely be another one to look out for, while local bakery stalwart Cedele’s prawn otah cookies and Violet Oon’s signature Sambal Bajak and Goreng Chilli will also be made available for sale.
With SFF going virtual this year, popular mobile app Snapchat will also join in the fun with their launch of an exclusive foodie-themed filter lens that participants can use to record and share their favourite SFF moments. This will be available on 21 August.
The first 90 early-bird participants who pre-book the SFF 2020’s offerings will be rewarded with SFF Boxes that contain a selection of SFF food merchandise. Festival goers can check out www.singaporefoodfestival.sg for more details.
