Taste of Russia – WYF 2024 to Host a Gastronomic Festival with More than 150 Chefs

On March 2, at WYF 2024, there will be a Taste of Russia Regional Food Festival for everyone to have a taste of the multinational cuisine of our country. The event will bring together authors of gastronomic projects from all regions – from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. The Festival is supported by the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives within the Gastronomic Map of Russia project.

More than 150 chefs will hold cooking workshops and tastings of dishes from the cuisine of the peoples of Russia, introducing WYF 2024 participants to their culture and traditions. The key event of the Festival will be the Main Table of Russia gastrocultural performance. The event will bring together 320 representatives of all Russian regions — the heads of the Russian constituent entities, famous regional chefs and WYF 2024 participants. The Festival guests will sit at a single table that is more than 100 meters long. It will reflect the cultural identity of each participating region, as well as the multinational gastronomic heritage of Russia.

The tasting will continue until the evening. The WYF 2024 participants will be able to taste dishes from Russia's regions, prepared by young chefs, for free. The dishes will range from world-famous Russian cuisine to dishes of small indigenous peoples.

"In 2018, a team of young chefs from the Gastronomic Map of Russia held the first festival of Russian regional cuisine in Sochi during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 5 years later, we will welcome guests from all over the world again at the World Youth Festival. This will be our 50th Festival. Culinary traditions and national cuisine are the quickest and most important way to get to know the culture of a country. They are an international language of communication. Russian and foreign participants and guests of the WYF 2024 will gather at one table on the opening day, March 2. It will be a unique opportunity to get to know the cuisines of the peoples living in our multinational country in one day. And learn a new language, the culinary language of Russia," said Ekaterina Shapovalova, author of the Gastronomic Map of Russia project and curator of the House of Russian Cuisine at VDNH.

The Festival participants will not only be able to taste dishes of Russian regional cuisine, but also learn more about the multinational gastronomic culture at the educational lecture "Learning the Culinary Language of Russia". Leading Russian chefs, producers, and historians of Russian cuisine will talk about the characteristics and uniqueness of the dishes and hold culinary workshops.

Overview:

The World Youth Festival will take place in 2024 according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation. At the first meeting of the Organizing Committee chaired by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration, it was decided to hold the Festival in the Sirius Federal Territory.

20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement young people aged 14-17, 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad, will have the opportunity to participate in the event.

The World Youth Festival is organized by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and operated by the World Youth Festival Directorate.

Prepared by the WYF 2024 Press Office