Getting a taste for the food business at Zayed University

The Abu Dhabi campus is hosting its first Food Festival on Wednesday.

The Abu Dhabi campus of Zayed University will host its first Food Festival this week.

The event, which is open to the public and free, will provide students with the information to launch a food venture, and offers networking opportunities with professionals in the food industry.

"I saw that people are interested in food but many lack the awareness of what's next," says Mariam Omran Al Hallami, one of the organisers. "So we wanted to have an event that would help them transform from home businesses to [outside] markets."

The event opens at 10am, with a "food aisle" in the female promenade of the university, where home-based businesses will be on hand selling their goods and chatting to male and female students interested in launching their own businesses.

Throughout the day, Arab celebrity chefs will host segments of their own: the Egyptian chef Nermine Hanno, who has a show on Arab cooking channel Fatafeat, will be signing her new cookbook at 1pm; the Emirati chef Khulood Atiq will give an "inspirational talk" at 1.30pm; the Syrian chef Mohammed Orfali, also of Fatafeat fame, will cook live at 2pm; and Sheikha Al Ali will host a cooking photography class at 2pm.

The afternoon will also feature a panel discussion between professionals who have launched their own successful food business in the UAE: Just Falafel's Alia Al Mazroui, Slices' Khalid Al Ameri, Klayya's Saeed Al Falasi and Wild Peeta's Mohammed Parham.

To register, visit the festival's Twitter feed: @ZUFoodFest