15,000 visitors to Festember and Big Grill events get Abu Dhabi Food Festival underway

Abu Dhabi Food Festival 2018 welcomed 15,000 guests last weekend with two major events happening across the city. Festember, an explosion of art, lifestyle and entertainment, took place at the WaterFront Park, next to Louvre Abu Dhabi, and the Big Grill, which celebrated the art of cooking with smoke and fire, was held alongside a live concert at Yas Links. The Festember event alone managed to draw 8,000 visitors, meaning Abu Dhabi Food Festival got off to a fantastic start, with the event running until 22nd December.

Festember organisers have improved and expanded their event this year with the help of the Advantage Abu Dhabi fund, which was launched by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) in 2017. The fund empowers entrepreneurs and the private events sector to host quality concepts, either by supporting the vital first steps of an event, or by allowing established events to improve their offering further. Through this fund initiative, DCT Abu Dhabi encouraged Festember to grow and host an enhanced sustainable experience as part of this year’s Abu Dhabi Food Festival.

For 2018’s edition, Festember brought light, business and global flavours all together next to the iconic museum, as local entrepreneurs and businesses met to showcase some of their most exciting ideas whilst enjoying cuisine from across the globe. The event, which took place between 5th to 9th December, is one of the top forums in Abu Dhabi for presenting emerging brands to a wide audience and is at the forefront of creating unparalleled experiences for visitors. This year also saw international food and beverage vendors attend, including Gastro Garage, Chick'nCone and The Barrel BBQ. 
Amongst those who attended was Mexico’s Ambassador to the UAE, HE Francisca E. Méndez Escobar. Mexico, the Guest of Honour for the 2018 Abu Dhabi Food Festival, has approximately 1,500 of its citizens residing here in the UAE.