St Moritz Gourmet Festival 20th – 28th January 2023

Photo Copyright Steve Hadorn

St. Moritz Gourmet Festival is an annual culinary event held in the Swiss ski resort of St. Moritz. This year it will be taking place for the 29th time, from 20th – 28th January 2023. It’s a foodie festival like no other, attracting food enthusiasts from all over the world. The theme for the St Moritz Gourmet Festival 2023 is “Middle Eastern Cuisine” and the ten very special Guest Chefs have been chosen.

Photo Credit St. Moritz Gourmet Festival

There will be a whole host of gourmet food and wine events, including tastings, dinners, and cookery demonstrations. Many of the world’s top chefs participate in the festival and the St Moritz Gourmet Festival ranks as one of the top food festivals in Switzerland.

Photo Credit St. Moritz Gourmet Festival

“Middle Eastern Cuisine” is a particularly colourful cuisine and dishes from all over the Middle East will be featured. There will be food from the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Iran and Turkey. The St. Moritz Gourmet Festival 2023 will be showcasing the diversity and conviviality of Middle Eastern sharing dishes so typical of the region. Against the backdrop of the snowy St. Moritzlandscape this should be a stunning contrast!

St. Moritz Gourmet Festival 2023 Press Conference

At the press conference at Baur au Lac in Zurich, the festival program and the guest chefs were unveiled. Fabrizio Zanetti, head chef at the “Suvretta House” and culinary director of the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival said that “The guest chefs of the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival 2023 combine the influences of different culinary cultures in their dishes and combine traditional ingredients and preparation methods of the Orient and North Africa with the modern cooking techniques of the Western world,” Also present was Martin Scherer, President of the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival Association and Director of the Hotel “Saratz” in Pontresina. He said that “In cooperation with the top-class chefs of the festival partner hotels, a firework of flavours for all the senses will be created”.

Press conference – photo copyright St. Moritz Gourmet Festival

The Top St Moritz Hotels and their Gourmet Festival Guest Chefs

At the “Waldhaus Sils” hotel, top Turkish chef Musa Dağdeviren is a guest of chef Gero Porstein. Dağdeviren is known to many from the Netflix food documentary series “Chef’s Table,” and he will he showcasing Turkish Middle Eastern food.

At the “Saratz” hotel, chef Kari Walker welcomes chef Silvena Rowe, who with her restaurant “Omnia” in Dubai is considered one of the leading “Wellness Chefs” in the Gulf region..

Chef Athanasios Kargatzidis is the guest of Mauro Taufer at the “Kulm Hotel St. Moritz” who will be highlighting his modern Greek fusion cuisine.

Israeli chef Gian Nicola Colucci will we welcoming chef Tomer Tal at the “Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski”. Tal’s creative cuisine is inspired by the multicultural flair of Tel Aviv.

Chef Raz Rahav will be cooking at the “Carlton Hotel” St. Moritz together with chef Fabrizio Crespi. His restaurant called “OCD” in Tel Aviv serves a 19-course experience menu is served to just 19 guests each night.

Chef Fabrizio Zanetti of “Suvretta House” is welcoming chef Sami Tamimi. Born in Palestine, Tamimi started his career in Jerusalem and with Yotam Ottolenghi opened the first Ottolenghi Deli in Notting Hill in 2002.

At the hotel “Nira Alpina” chef Janko Glotz will be welcoming chef Najat Kaanache who has twice been selected best Moroccan chef in the world.

Fabrizio Piantanida at the Grand Hotel “Kronenhof” in Pontresina has the guest Chef Alan Geaam, who was born in Libya and grew up in Lebanon. The self-taught chef runs the fine dining restaurant “Alan Geaam” (1 Michelin star) near the Arc de Triomphe.

Chef Gal Ben Moshe from Berlin will be in St. Moritz and as a guest of Rolf Fliegauf at the hotel “Giardino Mountain”. Ben Moshe was born in Tel Aviv and opened his first restaurant in Berlin in 2013. At “Prism” in Berlin he serves up creative fine-dining dishes with traditional flavours of the Levant region.

Chef Maxim Luvara from the “Badrutt’s Palace” hotel is welcoming Zineb “Zizi” Hattab. The Spaniard with Moroccan roots is one of the most talented female chefs in Switzerland and runs the restaurants “Kle” and “Dar” in Zurich which serve exclusively vegan dishes. Hattab was awarded “Discovery of the Year” in 2021 and the “Green Star,” and in 2022 she received her first Michelin star.

Photo Copyright Steve Hadorn

Prestige Gourmet Events in St Moritz

At the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival there will be many prestigious events like the “Porsche Grand Opening”, exclusive gourmet dinners, gourmet safaris and the legendary “Kitchen Party” at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel. Other special events include the “Fascination Champagne”, a wine event with Caratello at the Suvretta House, the “Ecco Tavolata” with Rolf Fliegauf, the “Culinary H3” in Pontresina at the Grand Hotel Kronenhof and the Hotel Saratz’s “Mountain Brunch” with spectacular views over the Paradiso. For wine lovers there is an exclusive tasting event at the Waldhaus Sils with Martel Weine St.Gallen. The finale of the festival is the “Oriental Closing Night” at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz.