Azerbaijan will host the first international food festival in the country's cultural capital, Shusha city, on May 5-8.

Culinary specialists from different countries will gather in the Shusha for the festival to be organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the State Tourism Agency, Trend has reported.

The first Shusha International Food Festival, which will become a holiday of gourmet dishes, will once again demonstrate the antiquity, beauty of this city, and the hospitality of the Azerbaijani people.

Culinary experts from Germany, Austria, China, France, Georgia, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Turkey and Japan will familiarize the guests with the cuisine of their countries. The guests will be also able to take part in master classes by professional chefs and learn the specific features of cooking.

Various economic regions of Azerbaijan, including Absheron-Khizi, Baku, Gorny Shirvan, Ganja-Dashkasan, Lankaran-Astara, Central Aran, Nakhchivan, Karabakh, Guba-Khachmaz, Shaki-Zagatala and others, will be presented at the festival.

Within the festival, there will be installed 11 national and foreign pavilions, as well as the pavilion of the National Culinary Center, where the guests will be able to taste dishes from the regions of Azerbaijan, as well as world cuisine. Zones where wine, cheese and other products will be presented for tasting will also function within the festival.

The event will also be attended by 40 international food experts, food bloggers from Belgium, the UAE, France, Italy, Israel, Canada, Korea, Russia, Turkey and other countries.

Along with the dishes of the peoples of the world, but also the material and spiritual values ??of different countries will be presented during the festival. According to this concept, the pavilions will also be organized in different formats.

In each pavilion, the guests will be able to get acquainted with the architectural style characteristic of a particular country, national music, fragments of famous works will be staged.

An art program with the participation of more than 100 masters of art will be presented to the guests. Performances, concerts and exhibitions will be organized in pavilions to be located in recreation and entertainment sites.

Samples of national crafts of Azerbaijan will also be presented at the festival. Within the Carpet Weaver's Day marked in Azerbaijan on May 5, the creative team of Azerkhalcha OJSC will hold various interactive presentations on the traditions of carpet weaving, and demonstrate all stages of carpet creation.

The Baku Book Center will present publications of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation on the cooking topic at the festival.

Within the festival, "Shusha. Spring Legend" plenair will be held on May 3-9 in Shusha with the participation of more than 30 Azerbaijani artists and sculptors.

The food festival, which will be held in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan with the participation of numerous local and foreign guests, along with the revival of the liberated cities and regions of the country, will become another symbol of the return of fertility and prosperity to this fertile land after 30 years.