Cairo Food Week
Cairo Food Week spotlights Cairo as a culinary destination, gathering the world’s best chefs and hungry travellers to the Nile once again.
The original article is published on EatGoSee. I was invited on a press trip to the Cairo Food Week in May 2024.
There is something poetic — a little full circle — about Cairo emerging as a culinary epicentre. It’s a return to its origin story. Thousands of years ago, the world’s ancient civilisations settled around fertile riverbeds to grow and harvest food. Still, the stories of Ancient Egypt — the ones I learned as a child — are founded on daily life taking root as a new civilisation bloomed over the banks of the River Nile.
Cairo absorbed the influence of Levantine traders to the East, its North African neighbours to the West and Ottoman kitchens to the North. Egyptian food is that of spice and hearty fare. Like its people, it’s alive with personality and Gusto.
Cairo Food Week stands on the shoulders of thousands of years of tradition and heritage to propel Egyptian and North African food into its next thousand years. It slides a contemporary lens over Egyptian cooking, spotlighting its culinary future. It advances the city’s legacy towards being one of the region’s culinary hubs by once again gathering the hungry, curious masses and inviting them to Cairo.
“Our vision for Cairo Food Week has always been to shine a light on Egyptian cuisine and nurture a sense of collaboration across the industry,” founder Hoda El-Sherif.
Cairo Food Week, what is it?
Cairo’s palpable energy ripples across the city, through each dining room and event, as some of the world’s biggest chefs join forces with some of the region’s finest talent. Egyptians love a night out, so the occasion of Cairo Food Week evokes their special brand of pizzaz, kicking things off with at the Grand Egyptian Museum–a must-visit attraction, wedged between Egypt’s Ancient past and its progressive future.
Across eight days, Cairo Food Week stages more than 40 events that assemble some of the best chefs from Egypt, the region and the world–more on that later. The events are peppered around the city, offering restaurant collaborations, cultural events, and more like Ein Prosit.
As Sahar Parham, award-winning Emirati pastry chef, put it to Cláudia de Brito (Gulf Academy Chair for MENA’s 50 Best):
“Cairo Food Week hosts a lot of regional chefs from across the Middle East and North Africa. I really appreciate that they highlight chefs and restaurants from Cairo. We have the talent here in the region and it’s time to showcase it.”
Cairo Food Week, the dining collaborations.
Cairo Food Week straddles street food to casual dining, to world-class fine dining, all popping off on the same night in different locations. This is nothing like Taste festivals. Chefs cook in restaurants (with proper kitchens) to treat diners to a slice of what they can do.
On the flirty, fun side, chefs Karime Lopez and Takahiko Kondo of Gucci Osteria (Florence, 1 Michelin Star) served some of their most well-known dishes with Chef Adam Kodovas at buoy, a casual Greek restaurant in New Cairo’s Garden 8. The music throbs inside buoy’s lounge-like atmosphere as the beautiful people pour white wine (did you know they make wine in Egypt?) and the chefs pump out bite after bite of tongue-in-cheek dishes that met the character of the occasion, like the “Italian Breakfast” of “a cannolo that ‘wants to be a cannellone’”—a purple corn tostada with bonito, spice and citrus and fresh local shrimp with aged gruyere, beetroot and flowers.
The jubilance of Cairo Food Week found its spiritual home next door as the chefs Mohammed Orfali (Orfali Bros Bistro, Dubai), Sara Aqel (Dara Dining by Sara Aqel, Amman) and Tarek Ibrahim (Umami, Cairo) broke into an impromptu sing-along while plating their contemporary vision of Middle Eastern (I told you about the partying!). Even this most cynical writer cracked a smile. Gregoire Berger (Kraken, Dubai, formerly Ossiano) and organiser Sherif Tamim (MENA 50 Best Academy Chair, Egypt and Cairo Food Week co-founder) joined in.
Cognoscenti in search of fine dining found plenty on show as some of the world’s best chefs—according to World’s 50 Best and a litter of Michelin Guides—put on a show across some of Cairo’s best kitchens, especially as many people may never get the chance to experience these restaurants in their home countries.
Virgilio Martinez (Central, former World’s No 1 Best Restaurant) hosts arguably the signature gala dinner, “Cooking the Ecosystem”, that unpacks Virgilio’s dedicated vision by unfolding Peru’s unique ecosystem a hundred metres in altitude at a time. Slovenian chef Ana Roš (World’s Best Female Chef 2017), fresh off earning three Michelin stars, showcased why her Hiša Franko is one of the World’s Best. A roster of Who’s Who in the fine dining world descended on Cairo. There were others, such as Portugal's José Avillez (Belcanto, two Michelin stars), Colombia’s Alvaro Clavijo (El Chato, No 54 World’s 50 Best), and Canadian-Italian Jessica Rosval (Al Gato Verde, No 92 World’s 50 Best). Himanshu Saini (Trèsind Studio, three Michelin Stars) unpacked the future of Indian food and progressive Indian fine dining with flair.
Italian dolce vita stands on ceremony at the Four Seasons Nile River in a collaboration between resident chef Beñat Alonso, his protégée Stefan Mafiloli Ferrari, and visiting chef Riccardo Forapani (Ristorante Cavallino). There is plenty of wit and imagination on display with—hands down—my favourite meal of Cairo Food Week, possibly appealing to my predilections. Exquisite cooking from all chefs, but the crème caramel of parmigiano reggiano and the orzo pasta with green tomatoes, gambero rosso and burnt lemon will live long in my memories.
Cairo Food Week, curating culture beyond dining
Cairo Food Week presents an easy muse for the food-motivated who have never been to Egypt. Cairo exudes a frenetic chaos and bustle with the congested roads of a sprawling metropolis. Cairo is a challenging travel destination, but that’s part of the charm. The Nile and ancient monuments–some of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, no less–sit within eyesight of Cairo’s future. In Cairo, antiquity and innovation sit side by side.
Cairo’s historic downtown district became the stage for When We Eat Downtown Market, a two-day street food festival hosted at The Factory, a renovated Art Deco building. When We Eat brought together Cairo’s favourite street vendors, regional food startups and artisans boasting Alexandrian seafood sandwiches and date ice cream.
Joint exhibitions, “Threads” by Mater (Peru) and “Does a River Shape a Table?” by Marwa Benhalim (Egypt), created a bridge between the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Peru. The Grand Egyptian Museum (again, a must-visit) hosted the artworks and installations of food and food preparation. Both artists—together with Virgilio Martinez—presented their exhibits and stayed for questions.
This is in addition to the obvious escapes that Cairo affords: the Pyramids of Giza, Nile River tours, the Great Sphinx of Giza, discover Coptic Cairo and wander through Khan el-Khalili Bazaar for ta’ameya (Egyptian falafel) and humble fuul (a fava bean stew often eaten at breakfast).
Cairo Food Week, lifting the region to the world
When we talk about the great gastronomic centres of the world, the conversation quickly leaps towards the cities in Europe, South East Asia, the curries of India or those closely guarded sushi-yas of Japan. Rarely does Egypt, North Africa or the Middle East get a mention.
There was a burgeoning optimism leaving the Cairo Food Week. There was a sense that Cairo Food Week could draw attention to a region deserving of the culinary world’s attention and admiration.
Since last year’s festival, Khufu’s, an admired Egyptian restaurant overlooking the Pyramids of Giza, was named One to Watch at the 2025 World’s 50 Best Restaurants List.
Cairo Food Week, who should come?
Anyone looking for an excuse to come to Cairo, people curious about Egyptian, Middle Eastern and North African food, enthusiastic food travellers, Egyptians who want to meet some of the best chefs in the world, and eat their food.
Written by Liam Collens. Liam was invited on a press trip to Cairo Food Week 2024. Cairo Food Week 2025 is scheduled to start on 25 September 2025.
Liam is a restaurant critic, food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can find Liam on Substack, Threads, Instagram, BlueSky or Facebook.
As an Egyptian I didn't know about Cairo food week. Thank you for shedding that light and looking forward to your input about this year's as well. I'm very happy to read that we finally have something that would shed some light on our Egyptian food talent. Go Egyptians!