Inayat-Ur-Rahman, Business Editor

Expo 2020 Dubai is serving up a new culinary experience for visitors, with the Rising Flavours Food Hall, inspired by the countries of the GCC, shining a light on the region’s cultures and unique take on international cuisines.

The three-storey dining hall highlights the range and creativity of the Gulf region’s vibrant and ever-evolving food scene, and serves as a celebration of the incredible flavours and talent born or nurtured in the GCC.

Conceived by industry figureheads from the region, the ground floor is home to a regularly rotating line-up of culinary pods, featuring chefs and restaurants that demonstrate the gastronomic variety of each GCC country, including concepts from the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

The cast includes celebrity chef Douha Abdullah Al Otaishan, Saudi Arabia’s first female executive chef; UAE-based pastry chef Carmen Rueda, known for her unique approach to creating pastries; Bahraini restaurateur Roaya Saleh, celebrated for Villa Mamas, one of Manama’s most recognised restaurants; Omani celebrity chef Nader Al Aisari; Qatar-based Lebanese chef Mohamad Najem; Kuwait’s Khaled Al Baker, creator of concepts Meem Café and Roto; Hattem Mattar, the Arab world’s first pitmaster; Emirati Musabbeh Al Kaabi, a Dubai celebrity judge known for his modern approach to Emirati cuisine; Turkish chef and concept creator Zulfikar Cambaz, chef de cuisine at BABA, Westin Mina Seyahi, a restaurant focused on Ottoman cuisine; Jhon Faver, chef de cuisine at El Sur, Spanish restaurant at Westin Mina Seyahi; and Jay Williams, winner of Hotelier Middle East Executive Chef of year 2020.

Galal Abdellatif, Director, Food and Beverage, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “One of the best ways to discover a country is by sampling its cuisine, and at Expo 2020, visitors will be able to able to eat their way around the world without leaving the UAE. The GCC countries are presenting exciting and innovative concepts, allowing guests to taste what their countries have to offer and learn more about Middle Eastern cultures.” The first-floor restaurant is a licensed, full-service fine-dining restaurant that hosts a chef’s table and a theatrical cooking show. Diners can expect to savour dishes to savour dishes such as ahi tuna; red snapper tagine, zucchini and saffron risotto; oven baked filo pastry filled with beef, mushrooms and tomatoes served with yoghurt sauce, and shrimp and piquillo pepper croquettes and parsley aioli.

The hall’s walls serve as a space where GCC artists can showcase their artworks, while diners will be serenaded by live performances from regional talent, featuring traditional and modern sounds from the Gulf as well as guest DJ mixes.

Expo 2020 has invited countries from around the world to showcase their national dishes, giving visitors the chance to taste traditional and specialised food from around the globe, with more than 200 food and beverage outlets serving up 50-plus cuisines across the site.

From 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, Expo 2020 Dubai will welcome visitors from every corner of the globe to join the making of a new world, as it brings together the planet in one place to reimagine tomorrow. With the purpose of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, Expo 2020 will be the world’s most impactful global incubator for new ideas, catalysing an exchange of new perspectives and inspiring action to deliver real-life solutions to real-world challenges

Expo 2020 will be the biggest cultural gathering in the world, presenting a visually striking and emotionally inspiring 182 days, as more than 200 participants – including nations, multilateral organisations, businesses, and educational institutions, as well as millions of visitors – create the largest and most diverse World Expo ever.

Expo 2020’s subthemes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability will inspire visitors to preserve and protect our planet, explore new frontiers and build a better future for everyone.

For six months, Expo 2020 will be a must-visit family destination, with thousands of events, amazing exploratory experiences, and free entry for children up to age 18.

Expo is committed to building a more equitable and just world for everyone, while keeping visitors safe by following the latest guidance of the world’s leading medical, science and health experts.

Expo 2020 is the first World Expo to take place in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, located on a 4.38 sqkm site adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South.

Built with a meaningful and measurable long-term legacy in mind, the Expo site will transform into District 2020 – a model global community that will rethink the cities of the future – after Expo 2020 closes its doors.

In 1851 the Crystal Palace was the centrepiece of London’s Great Exhibition – the first World Expo. It celebrated the man-made industrial wonders of a rapidly changing world. Architecture, contents and a theme, ‘Industry of All Nations’, were combined to create a big idea of nations meeting nations in shared technological and commercial progress. In more recent years, participants in World Expos, including governments, international organisations and companies, have gathered to find solutions to universal challenges and to promote their achievements, products, ideas, innovations, their national brand, and their nations as destinations for tourism, trade and investment.

World Expos are held under the auspices of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organisation responsible for overseeing and regulating international exhibitions (‘Expos’) and for fostering their core values of Education, Innovation and Cooperation. Today, four types of Expos are organised under the BIE’s auspices: World Expos, Specialised Expos, Horticultural Expos and the Triennale di Milano.