Ubud Food Festival
The Ubud Food Festival, Southeast Asia’s leading culinary event, is back again this year. From 30 June to 2 July, the festival will feature about 40 local and international chefs who will indulge your tastebuds with a diverse range of foods against the backdrop of Ubud’s beautiful landscape—it’ll be an unforgettable culinary tour de force.
The festival’s theme this year is Soil (Tanah). About 95 percent of our food comes from our soil, which is a part of a very complex ecosystem. The festival will be an exploration of how our natural resources sustain our lives through the food they give us, and what can we do to consume these resources in a responsible way.
“As a source of life, the soil always gives us whatever we ask from it. Miraculously, the seeds we plant always grow and bear fruit. Water flows along soil, protecting all living beings above and below its surface. The land is like a wise spiritual mother. It helps us become aware to maintain balance and life cycles in human nature.”
– UFF Founder and Director, Janet DeNeefe-
At the same time, the festival is also a celebration of the diversity of culinary traditions we humans have.
Consistent with this spirit, this year’s festival will bring chefs from all over the world together to showcase their culinary style. They will be presenting their own unique culinary style in a number of special events including cooking demos, masterclasses, and food talks, among others.
One of these chefs is the Indonesian chef and cookbook author, Petty Elliott, who is best known for her innovative, mouth-watering fusions—a cross between Manadonese culinary from North Sulawesi with Western foods, which results in dishes like the Manadonese Risotto. Among her many outstanding achievements include judging in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and the World’s Best 50 Restaurants in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
We also have the Indonesian chef, Hans Christian, whose Jakarta restaurant August has just been named ‘the One to Watch’ by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. The restaurant serves Indonesian foods from different regions, like octopus with Andaliman spice from North Sumatra, using French cooking techniques.
On the international side, we will feature Gabriele Castagnetti, who will share insights from his 20 years of experience as a food scientist in Europe and Asia. His projects explore ways to create healthy foods, whilst also mitigating environmental problems like deforestation. He’s played leading roles in the Fortune 500 Companies.
Then, we’ll also have Filipina chef Johanne Siy, who currently works as the head chef for Lolla Singapore, a restaurant specializing in Mediterranean Cuisine. She has also worked in the United States and several Scandinavian countries. She’s been named by Asia’s 50 Best as Asia’s Best Female Chef. Learn more about her produce-driven cuisine during her appearance at UFF.
This year’s theme is also accompanied by a visual artwork by 15-year-old Balinese artist, Ni Wayan Tiksna Gangga, a native of Gianyar, the regency where the festival takes place. Her works have been displayed at the prestigious Agung Rai Museum of Arts (ARMA). Her artwork visualizes the elements of soil, which grow above it like plants and what lie beneath it like roots.
We chose to work with her for this year’s accompanying artwork because of her use of organic elements in her visual arts, which aligns with our theme. “The material I used to create this artwork came from nature, such as flowers, the rind of fruits and [the Balinese] arrack,” said Gangga. She added that her use of organic materials for her artwork was inspired by the Balinese principle of harmony between humans and nature.
