Eat & Win $100 hotel voucher
The Food Safari
November 14 - 16, 2008
Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre Halls 402, 403 and 404
Opens from late morning till 10pm


Go with your family and friends to The Food Safari where you can sample and buy food products from all over the world.

If you like a dish or food product sampled or bought there tell us why you like. You stand to win $100 hotel voucher. Two consolation prizes - $50 hotel voucher each - will also be given.

In at least 50 words, tell us why you like the product or dish. It could be a wine, a sauce or cuisine from any of the participating companies.

All contestants must satisfy the following requirements when submitting their entry:

1) Send your email to soshiok@sph.com.sg

2) Your entry must contain the following details:
- In the subject field of your email, put "The Food Safari Contest".
- Your email must have your full name as in your identity card.
- Handphone number or telephone number at which we can reach you easily, if you win.

3) Write in at least 50 words why you like the product/dish. Name the dish and the booth which features or sells it.
For example, Tibetan momo dumplings from Fifth Season - Flavours of India restaurant. Or Bordeaux XXXXX red wine from Sopexa booth.

4) Send your entry with all the required details to soshiok@sph.com.sg by Nov 23, 12pm.

5) Incomplete entries will be disqualified.

The results will be announced in soshiok.com.

Below are Highlights of The Food Safari 

Metre-long pizzas
Pick up pizza-making tips from Chef Raffaele Meloni from Italian restaurant group Lotus Restaurants, who will be making metre-long traditional Italian thin-crust pizzas, with toppings such as parma ham and quattro stagioni (four seasons). These include artichokes, ham, olives and mushrooms. There will be pizzas to sample for free.
When: Nov 14, 1pm
Price: Free

La-Mian

Want to try making freshly pulled noodles at home? Learn how by watching a chef from The Eastern Restaurant make fresh la-mian. You will be able to sample at the end of the demonstration.
When: Nov 15, 11.30am
Price: Free

Cake-a-decor
 
Think you make the prettiest cupcakes?
Sign up to help decorate a giant cake at the event, or watch others do it.
When: Nov 16, 5pm
Price: Free. You will need to sign up in advance. Look out for forms in The Straits Times or log on to www.thefoodsafari.com.sg for more information

Singapore Sling Cocktail (party workshop)
Sign up to learn more about the iconic drink and how to make it at home.
When: Nov 14, 6.15pm
Price: $5 per person. Log on to www.thefoodsafari.com.sg to sign up

Live music
Latino band Esquina Latina will be burning up the dance floor with their salsa and rhumba numbers. Buy a drink, have some food and enjoy the sounds.
When: Nov 15, 8 and 9pm
Price: Free

Japanese Drinking Lifestyle
Ever wanted to learn the art of drink-pairing, and the flavours and fragrances behind Japanese beverages? Put your name down for this workshop to learn more about sake, shochu, and plum wine.
When: Nov 14, 5.15pm
Price: $5 per person. Log on to www.thefoodsafari.com.sg to sign up

Some new products to try at The Food Safari


Spanish jamon Iberico
Solymer Asia, suppliers and distributors of Spanish ham, will be offering small
quantities of this gourmet ham (right). It comes from black Iberian pigs, which feed on acorns, and is prized for its distinct rich flavour.

While the price is yet to be determined, carnivalgoers will be able to watch
thin slices being carved from a whole leg of ham. It will be sold in
pre-packaged 40g bags.

Alcoholic beverages
Wine importer Palitalia Wines, which specialises in Italian wines, will be launching two new wines and a liqueur at The Food Safari.

These include white wine Fazi Battaglia Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 2005 ($110), which pairs well with shellfish and sushi. The red wine offering, Dievole Chianti Classico Vendemmia 2006 ($48), will go well with hearty steaks as well as roast meats and stews.

Zanin Chocolate Liquore ($68) is a smooth chocolate-flavoured liqueur with vanilla and coffee notes and a tinge of chilli. Items will be sold at a 20 per cent discount off the regular retail price.


Hotshots Flame-Grilled Burgers
Filipino burger chain Hotshots Flame-Grilled Burgers, which has a stall at Lau Pa Sat, will be selling its two newest burgers – the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and the Lamburgini. The former is a chicken fillet sandwich while the latter is a juicy lamb burger. Burger prices range from $5 to $8 each.

Yeo’s organic soy milk
Yeo’s has a new organic soy milk range which comes in 250ml bottles. O-Life! Soy Milk and O-Life! Soy Milk with Oats will be sold at $1 each.

Eat your way through 15 countries

The Food Safari will make this gastronomic feat possible at Suntec Convention
Hall from Nov 14 to 16. For three days, 8,000 sq m of space will be transformed
into a melting pot of ethnic cultures, cuisines and food products.

This first event, organised by Singapore Press Holdings subsidiary Sphere Exhibits, will also offer carnivalgoers free cooking demonstrations from various ethnic groups during the Global Gourmet segment.

This segment will showcase five cuisines – Peranakan, Korean, Vietnamese,
Spanish and Tangra Chinese from Bengal – with cooking experts from each culture offering cooking tips as well as cultural insights.

1) Ms Helen Lim, 50, director of Peranakan eatery Kim Choo Kueh Chang in East
Coast Road, for example, plans to inject some nostalgia into her session on Nonya chang (dumpling).

She will be using antique kamcheng – Peranakan porcelain bowls with lids
usually used to store spices – as she shares her fourth-generation Nonya secret
to wrapping the perfect dumpling.
 

|
MADAM YUN BO YONG owner of Korean restaurant Ju Shing Jung, holding a dish of bibimbap.

2) If you are after slightly more exotic fare, pick up the art of cooking Korean
bulgogi – stir-fried beef – and authentic rice dish bibimbap from Madam Yun Bo
Yong.

The 36-year-old owner of Korean restaurant Ju Shing Jung, which has three
outlets, says: “Traditional bulgogi takes a long time to make, but I will teach
the audiences a very simple and easy way so that they can cook it at home.”

3) You can also learn how to make Vietnamese rice paper rolls and bo la lot –
barbecued beef or chicken wrapped in a betel nut leaf – from Mr Alvin Lee, 37,
owner of Vietnamese restaurant chain, The Orange Lantern.


4) Impossibly exotic cuisines could also possess surprising familiarity, as Ms
Lisa Olson, 48, co-founder of Spanish food distributor Solymer Asia, points out.

She will be teaching a dish of gamabas al ajillo (garlic prawns) and explaining
the ways to use a Moroccan tajine, a glazed pot, and a cazuela, a Spanish
claypot or casserole dish.

She says: “Chinese use claypots for a lot of their cooking and so do
Spaniards.”


5) Cooks might also find Tangra Chinese food oddly familiar and exotic at the same time. The cuisine is a fusion of Chinese, Indian and Tibetan food, which originates from Bengal, a region to the east of India.

Mrs Deepali Ray, 39, (picture above) director and owner of Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant in Race Course Road, will share recipes for Tibetan momo (dumpling), fish paturi (Bengalese fish dish) and kebab rolls.

Singapore's culinary gurus
Cooking doyennes Violet Oon and Devagi Sanmugam will also be spicing up the event with modern takes on traditional Asian dishes.

Ms Oon will prepare mock sharksfin soup with potatoes and yusheng sauce with
California raisins.

She says: “I had an idea to present old favourites with some new twists. Most of us know what sharksfin soup is, but for many who do not want to eat sharksfin, this is a re-creation of the traditional soup.”

Her new take on traditional Teochew yusheng sauce will use ground raisins to provide a natural and unprocessed sweetness to the sauce.

While Ms Oon’s focus at the food fair will be on Chinese food, Madam Sanmugam
will be reinventing Indian favourites with a citrus beehoon (rice vermicelli) salad and chickpea raita (yogurt) with pomegranate.

So whether you are after fancy ethnic fare or a twist on the traditional, The
Food Safari will deliver a taste treat.

The Food Safari
When: Nov 14 to 16
Where: Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre Halls
402, 403 and 404
Admission: Free
For more information, log on to www.thefoodsafari.com.sg or call 6319-4020