Qixi Fest 2026 Puts Singapore's 250 Years of Food Craft on Show

Qixi Fest 2026 comes to Singapore's Chinatown with a food-led program backed by the Singapore Tourism Board. The festival's two anchor events are a one-night banquet on Aug. 19 and the debut Nanyang Breakfast Challenge on Aug. 22.

The celebration traces to the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a date observed across China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. Its founding legend, the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, celebrates craftsmanship and artistry; wishes made upon the stars, tradition holds, come true more readily when the wish-maker shows skill in the arts and handicrafts. This year's Singapore edition turns that theme toward food, asking visitors to look beyond each dish to the stories and technique behind it.

Guo Teyi, director of leisure events at the Singapore Tourism Board, said the festival lets visitors and locals sample the richness of Singapore's cultural traditions. “This year's edition of Qixi Fest, themed around culinary craftsmanship, brings together heritage, creativity and community,” she said. “Presenting our traditions in fresh and imaginative ways, the celebration reinforces Singapore as a compelling destination for arts, culture and heritage, and encourages further exploration of the historic district of Chinatown.”

The culinary program is built around a collaboration between two heritage trade associations. Ku So F&B Association Singapore has operated for 150 years, and the Foochow Coffee Restaurant & Bar Merchants Association for 105. Together they represent more than 250 years of collective expertise. Kopi brewers and chefs from both groups appear in exhibitions and masterclasses across the festival. The collaboration pairs the techniques behind Singapore's favourite dishes with the people who quietly preserved them.

Become 食神 (God of Culinary), an interactive exhibition, covers traditional knife skills, wok mastery, hand-pulled noodles and sugar sculpting, then turns to flavour pairing and the secrets behind authentic Nanyang kopi, the region's pulled-coffee tradition.