JEDDAH — LuLu, the region’s largest hypermarket chain well-renowned for highlighting country festivals throughout the year, launched its annual food festival “World Food” across its stores in Saudi Arabia from Feb. 26 to March 10. A celebration of flavors and culture, the two-week festival brings together foodies, families and friends in a gastronomic experience of global cuisines from more than 25 countries with live cooking competitions at all major hypermarkets, around 20 live performances from celebrity chefs and personalities, massive in-store product offers and customers can win 1,500 free trolleys during the promotion period. Celebrity Chef Sherbini, one of the most popular celebrity chefs in the Arab world with a culinary journey of more than 45 years, is visiting on Feb. 26 – Riyadh, Feb. 27 – Dammam, Feb. 29 – Jeddah. Celebrity Chef Hesham Baesham, a rock star in Saudi food world with 5 million followers on social media and extremely well accepted among women and youth, is visiting on Feb. 27 – Jeddah, Feb. 28 – Riyadh, Feb. 29 – Dammam. Celebrity Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, one of the most favorite chefs from the Bollywood and a wonderful entertainer, is visiting on March 5 – Riyadh, March 6 – Jeddah, March 7 – Dammam. The World Food 2020 is divided into many themes, such as Akla Arabia featuring Arabic delights, Olives & salads, Organic Fest, Pagkaing Pinoy for Filipino classics, desserts, barbecue treats and so much more targeting different nationalities and communities. Alongside the food themes, a host of different cooking competitions is being organized not just for homemakers, but also exclusively for males and kids. Shehim Mohammed, director of LuLu Saudi Hypermarkets, said: “We have been organizing our food festival for more than 10 years now, but this is our biggest celebration yet. This year, we have received extensive support from different embassies, trade promotion councils, various community organizations, hotel and tourism sector, celebrity chefs, and social media influencers. Our aim is to offer something unique and a more experiential and engaging shopping experience for our diverse shoppers.” Apart from the food-themed festivals and competitions, LuLu introduces new contest themes that will gather food enthusiasts from a different niche, such as Bake Challenge — the search for the best-tasting and beautifully designed pastries and Cook with Mom — a cooking competition with the little ones. With 188 stores operating worldwide, LuLu has been continuously exerting its greatest efforts to provide and sustain the supply of global products at the best rates. With the excellent combination of high-quality offerings and organized logistics system, LuLu remains to be the favourite shopping destination in Saudi Arabia when it comes to a broader selection of international products. - SG