Photo by Anggara Mahendra

This year’s edition of the annual Ubud Food Festival wrapped up on May 14, with more than 9,000 food enthusiasts having joined the event. The festival itself took place in a colorful multi-venue space that saw more than 100 activities carried out over the course of two days.

This year’s festival highlighted the diversity of Indonesia’s cuisines, showcasing the talents of outstanding Indonesian chefs and entrepreneurs, facilitated by more than 100 speakers from across the archipelago and the Southeast Asian region. Hundreds of local and international dishes were also served to please foodies joining the event.

The festival included prominent local chefs, including Sisca Soewitomo, Bara Pattiradjawane and Petty Elliot, as well as the “jungle chef” from Papua, Charles Toto. During his session, Charles challenged participants to try live sago worms foraged from the Papuan highlands and sample a slice of sago pizza. Sago itself is a staple food in Papua. Petty, meanwhile, cooked a coconut pudding for her audience.

International chefs, like the Philippines’ Chele González and Cambodia’s Joannés Riviére also graced the festival with Southeast Asian flavors. González presented a Filipino-style squid dish and Riviére came up with Cambodian-inspired black sticky rice and scallops.

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