Everything You Need to Know About Cairo Food Week 2024

With Cairo’s burgeoning culinary scene coming to a simmer, the second edition of ‘Cairo Food Week’, running from May 9th to 16th - promises to turn up the heat with a slew of global gastronomic gurus infusing the city with extraordinary epicurean experiences, culinary talks, inspiring exhibitions and mouth-watering screenings.

Months in the making, the passionately and painstakingly curated Cairo Food Week sees over 20 internationally renowned chefs - of both the celebrity and Michelin award-winning variety - donning their monogrammed aprons alongside the best culinary artists in Egypt and the Middle East to create a smorgasbord of custom culinary journeys set in stunning locales. Guests from Egypt and around the world - tickets are now available to purchase from events.cairofoodweek.com - are invited to dine in avant-garde museums filled with ancient artefacts, take a seat in makeshift dining rooms nestled in historical nooks hidden far from the madding crowds, taste wonder at the foot of the Great Pyramids of Giza and indulge in a fusion of flavours served up in the city’s most innovative kitchens and cultural hot spots.

Born of a dream that’s been slow-cooking for nearly a decade, Cairo Food Week is the beautiful brainchild of Hoda El-Sherif and Sherif Tamim. Together they are considered amongst the pioneers of culinary storytelling both in Egypt and across the region with their first company Flavor Republic, founded in 2015, serving to change the way the nation perceives both its historical and contemporary food culture and indeed the way the food and beverage industry perceives itself. Their rich and nuanced multimedia culinary storytelling for corporates and independents alike contextualised within world-class consultancy has elevated the scene and served as benchmark and gastronomic beacon. So the debut arrival of a Cairo Food Week onto the scene in 2023 seemed like a natural and even long-awaited progression.

“We’ve been in the industry long enough to have seen firsthand the immense power this country has when its people come together behind a common purpose,” Hoda El-Sherif tells Scene Eats. “We’ve seen savvy creatives single-handedly shift trends with a single powerful concept. We know the local scene is a gold mine of creativity, talent and perseverance, but we also recognize that it’s not meeting its full potential.”

Visiting chefs this year include culinary legends like Ana Roš (Hiša Franko), Virgilio Martinez (Central), José Avillez (Belcanto), Alvaro Clavijo (El Chato) and Jessica Rosval (Al Gatto Verde), as well as the best and brightest from MENA with Mohamad Orfali (Orfali Bros. Bistro), Gregoire Berger (Ossiano) and Himanshu Saini (Trèsind Studio) putting in gastronomic appearances.

Representing the vanguard of Egyptian culinary artistry are chefs Mostafa Seif (Khufu’s), Martin Rodriguez (Izakaya) and Mirette Aly (The Lemon Tree) along with the powerhouse restaurateurs Baky Hospitality, Pier88 Group and Sanctum Hospitality.

For the second year running, Chef Massimo Bottura’s Francescana family return to Cairo with more stories to share from chefs Jessica Rosval, Gucci Osteria’s Karime Lopez.

Must-try experiences include ‘Pluricultural Cooking’ on May 16th which sees Maša Salopek, recently named the best pastry chef in the world and Alvaro Clavijo, who was ranked 34th in last year’s Best Chef Awards, join Martin Rodrigez of Cairo’s own Izakaya, the Japanese-Peruvian restaurant that is currently listed as the 38th best restaurant in the Middle East and North Africa, to create one incredible, unrepeatable meal that fuses flavours from around the globe.

Earlier in the week, on May 11th, Mohamad Orfali of Orfali Bros. Bistro, which was ranked the best restaurant in the Middle East will join Tarek Ibrahim, the first Arab chef to be awarded master chef status, and Sara Aqel, who runs the globally-ranked Fi’lia, to create a meal entitled ‘A Symphony of Taste.’ These three chefs will share not only their skills in the kitchen, but also the stories that shaped them in an event that highlights the flavours and hospitality of the Middle East.

Kicking off the festivities are a brace of explosive events: The King's Feast, an homage to the rich history of Egypt within the walls of the newly anointed Grand Egyptian Museum that serves as the Ceremonial opening night for the entire week on may9th. The next evening, Chef Virgilio of Central - the world's best restaurant in 2023 - hosts a 1 night only dinner in full view of the Pyramids and on the grounds of the GEM. The dinner is preceded by a collaborative exhibition telling of the Parallels between the seeds of the egyptian table and the culture of the peruvian table as experienced by Chef Virgilio himself.

Meanwhile Downtown Cairo will itself be bursting with flavour as the heart of the city is transformed into a vibrant round-the-clock gastronomic paradise with live food halls, food walks and more.

Cairo Food Week is more than a celebration of global culinary excellence, it’s a love letter to the city and the food culture that fuels it. As the official media partner, @SceneEats invites you to follow along on this one of a kind gastronomic journey.

To view the full calendar and purchase your passes for Cairo Food Week dining experiences and events head to cairofoodweek.com