Inaugural British Halal Food Festival hits Birmingham in July

Birmingham will experience “a lot more choice” when it comes to Halal food in a couple of months time with the inaugural British Halal Food Festival.

Located in the heart of the city, the event will be taking place at Digbeth Arena on Saturday 20th July with plenty of attractions planned throughout the day.

The 12,000sqft open-air venue will open at 11am with chilli-eating contests, celebrity chef cooking demos and the festival’s very own bake-off keeping attendees entertained till 9pm.

With 8000 tickets already on sale, admission charges will not include the cost of food being sold by 40 vendors expected on the day.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, one of the festival’s three founders, Abdul Ahad said: “Guests will have the opportunity to try the biggest variety of Halal food that has ever been offered anywhere in the UK.”

Our partnership with HMC means we should see about 20 stalls from businesses registered with HMC; and then another 20 from elsewhere, including street food companies, trucks and regular restaurants.

The British Halal Food Festival has partnered with HMC, which means that around half will be HMC certified with the rest being made up of Halal street food companies, trucks, and regular restaurants.

Some of the vendors already confirmed are gourmet burger specialists Tahini Kitchen, Japanese cuisine by Suru Wok & Grill, authentic East African Nyama Choma food by Serengeti Grill, and more.

FtLion can confirm that currently Great British Bake Off contestant Ali Imdad and Islam Channel TV chef Zarqa Hamid are scheduled to attend, with the former also manning a stall on behalf of his bakery restaurant Cocoa By Ali.

An organiser of the event has said that the bake-off competition will consist of three rounds with the first having one-tier cakes baked by contestants at home being judged by Ali Imdad on presentation, innovation and taste.

While rounds two and three are “set to have competitors thinking on the spot”, there will be activities for families too including kid’s rides, face painting, and Q&As on stage.

With Digbeth Arena being in the centre of Birmingham, there are numerous hotels nearby, with Moor Street Station and many public car parks within walking distance.

Tickets are now available via British Halal Food Festival’s website with under-10s being free, £5 for ages 11-16 and £10 for an adult (with 50p from every ticket sold being donated to global charity Islamic Relief).