If you’ve ever wanted to tour Saudi Arabia by flavor, a 13-region taste tour awaits you at the Saudi Feast Food Festival Riyadh 2025, held at King Saud University from 27 November to 6 December 2025. In one evening, you can bite your way from Najd’s comfort food to Asir’s honeyed breads, sample northern olive oils, and end on Hejazi desserts, while kids dive into hands-on activities and the main stage lights up with regional performances.
Now in its fifth edition, the festival is the Kingdom’s flagship celebration of culinary heritage, organized by the Culinary Arts Commission, and built around immersive zones, chef competitions, workshops, and a bustling market of local products.
How the Festival is Laid Out
Saudi Feast is designed as a zone experience so you can graze, learn, watch, and shop without backtracking:
- Culinary Arts Heritage Area: The heartbeat of the 13-region tastings
- Cooking Competitions Zone: Pro chefs go head-to-head on national and regional dishes
- Stage/Theatre Zone: Nightly live performances from across Saudi’s regions
- Workshops Zone: Ticketed classes with culinary experts
- Children’s Zone: Educational, creative, and culinary activities for all ages
- Local Products Store: Curated Saudi-made goods (spices, dates, serveware, gifts)
- Special Exhibition Area: A rotating themed feature.
In a previous edition, the theme spotlighted the “Year of the Camel”, celebrating the animal’s role in Saudi heritage. For 2025, this spirit of storytelling continues through a dedicated honey and beekeeping journey, charting honey “from hive to jar,” and tastings of premium Saudi and international honey.
The 13-Region Taste Tour: What to Eat First?
The Culinary Arts Heritage Zone is an edible atlas: 13 distinct sections, each representing a Saudi region with its iconic dishes and local ingredients. It’s built to help you taste the flavors, history, and identity of each region in a single, coherent loop.
Here’s a smart route:
- Najd (Riyadh region)
Start with something hearty like jareesh to anchor your palate, then a sweet bite of hanini. - Hejaz
Slide into saleeg (silky rice in broth) and mutabbaq (stuffed savory pancake). - Asir
Don’t miss areekah, a rustic bread base enriched with honey and ghee, great to share. - Northern regions (Al-Jouf, Tabuk)
Slow down with olive-oil tastings and za’atar blends; they’re lighter and reset your palate between heavier plates. - Qassim
Cap your loop with date-rich sweets or maamoul.
Chef Competitions You’ll Actually Want to Watch
The Cooking Competitions Zone is where technique meets tradition. Expect professional chefs to tackle national and regional dishes under time pressure, with judges scoring execution and authenticity, an ideal spectator stop between tastings. The guidelines call out this arena’s focus on nurturing creative national talents and encouraging innovation rooted in Saudi classics. If you want the loudest energy, time your visit for a finals night.
Honey & Beekeeping Experience
One of the standout additions to Saudi Feast Food Festival Riyadh 2025 is a dedicated honey and beekeeping experience. Framed like a mini exhibition inside the festival, it walks you through the journey “from hive to jar,” highlighting Saudi Arabia’s rich beekeeping traditions and regions famous for honey, such as Asir, Jazan, and Al-Baha. Expect educational displays, live explanations from specialists, and guided tastings where you can compare different honey varieties side by side. It’s a natural stop if you’ve just sampled Asiri dishes in the Heritage Zone, and a great way to choose a jar (or three) to take home as an edible souvenir.
Thailand Zone: Guest Flavors of 2025
New for 2025, the Thailand Zone brings a guest-country spotlight to the festival, with more than ten Thai restaurants and shops joining the lineup. It’s where you’ll swap Saudi spices for lemongrass, coconut, and chilli heat, with classics like green curry, tom yum, pad Thai, and mango sticky rice on offer. The zone is designed as a flavor contrast to the 13-region Saudi tour, perfect for resetting your palate or for groups where some people want to keep exploring Saudi specialties while others crave something different. It's a built-in culinary detour to Southeast Asia, without ever leaving King Saud University.
Workshops: Level Up Your Kitchen Skills
Whether you’re a home baker or a spice-curious beginner, the Workshops Zone offers short, practical sessions led by culinary experts. Tickets are sold separately, so popular themes (bread, pastry, heritage desserts) go fast. Book early once the schedule drops.
The Stage is a Cultural Tour Too
It’s not just food. The Theatre Zone becomes a nightly mosaic of regional music and performance arts, connecting what’s on your plate with the culture it comes from. Prior schedules show performance blocks roughly every 30–60 minutes through late evening, featuring forms like Samri Al-Jouf, Al Khubeiti, Khatwa Janoubia, Al Liwa, and La’b Al-Baha. A vibrant, family-friendly way to rest your feet and soak up more context.
Bringing the Kids? This is your game plan
The Children’s Zone is genuinely substantial, including:
- Mini culinary workshops where kids assemble simple dishes with local ingredients
- Interactive exhibits and guided “mini tours” of Saudi ingredients and food stories
- Arts and handicrafts stations (aprons, recipe cards, decorated boxes, etc.)
- Environmental and food-waste awareness activities pitched at different ages
With free entry for children under 12 in 2025, it’s easy to make Saudi Feast Food Festival Riyadh 2025 a full family outing without the ticket bill spiraling.
Shopping That’s Actually Useful
Between tastings, swing by The Store/Retail Zone for Saudi-made goods such as spices, date products, olive oils, honey and design-forward serveware inspired by the Kingdom’s heritage. These are carry-on friendly and ideal for gifting (or for recreating a favorite dish back home).
Keep an eye out for food carts distributed across the venue, handy for quick bites and drinks if you’re in a hurry between zones.
Practicalities: Make the Night Smooth
Getting There
- By Metro:
Riyadh’s new metro makes things easier. Head to King Saud University Station (Red Line) and follow event signage or shuttles to the festival entrance. It’s usually the least stressful way to arrive during peak hours. - By Car / Taxi:
- Set your map to King Saud University, Riyadh.
- Expect traffic spikes on weekend evenings (Thu–Sat).
- VIP tickets often come with better parking access, worth it if you’re driving.
Ride-hailing apps (Uber, Bolt, local options) all recognize KSU, so getting back to your hotel at night is straightforward.
Final Bites
The Saudi Feast Food Festival works because it treats cuisine as living culture, something you can taste, watch, and learn, together. If you only do one thing, make it the 13-Region Taste Tour; if you do two, add a stage block to see the music and dance that shaped those flavors. And before you leave, pick up a spice blend or honey. A small bottle of Saudi flavor goes a long way at home.