JEDDAH, 10 May 2004 — A professional cooking competition is one of the attractions of the five-day Food & Hotel and Propac Arabia exhibitions, which Deputy Minister of Agriculture Abdullah Al-Obaid opened at the Jeddah International Exhibition Center yesterday.
Hosted by TV celebrity chef Osama Saeed, the competition pits the winners of cookouts from around the Kingdom and elsewhere in the Gulf against each other in the second edition of the professional cooking contest.
Some 43 Saudi companies and a host of others from 25 countries are taking part in the expo.
Al-Obaid, who took a tour of exhibits, said the biennial event was one of the most important in the region. “Exhibits from all parts of the world should benefit the Kingdom with its rapidly growing economy and expanding consumer base,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is the biggest importer of food in the region.
In addition to the competitive sessions, each night will also see themed cooking demonstrations — French night today, Japanese night tomorrow, and French night again on Wednesday.
The contest will feature the 2002 local champion and the latest Jeddah winner today, the Riyadh winner vs. the Dammam winner tomorrow, the Dubai winner vs. the Bahrain winner on Wednesday, and the 2002 champion vs. the Kuwait winner on Thursday.
The food and hotel expo showcases foodstuffs alongside innovations in the hotel and catering trades — toward the southern end of the exhibition center, for example, a display of a myriad indoor fountains makes for a surreal and breathtaking sight. Propac Arabia, which runs alongside it, displays the latest in food processing and packaging technology from around the world.
