SINGAPORE — After offering the French public a veritable feast of the arts, the ongoing Singapore Festival in France is now serving up some “dessert”. Among the remaining activities in the three month-long event is a food market by the banks of one of Paris’ iconic landmarks.

The four-day Flavours of Singapore on the Banks Of the Seine, which will be held next month, will feature five local dishes prepared by Temasek Polytechnic students from the Diploma in Baking and Culinary Science course under the supervision of three chefs. The event will also feature an exhibition on spices, a showcase of traditional games, and a fashion display by students from the Diploma in Apparel Design & Merchandising.

Another food-related event will be held: A pop-up salon called Eat & Crit, which will bring together creatives inside a Parisian home to discuss food and art.

The food component brings a “different kind of flavour” into the festival, said Tan Boon Hui, festival artistic director and assistant chief executive of the National Heritage Board, one of the festival’s co-organisers. He added that during the planning stages, it was the French partners who had broached the idea of incorporating street food.

Throughout the food market, the students will be preparing 600 servings each of Indian mee goreng, chicken rice, satay, bak kuh teh and cendol. “To serve the French people what Singaporeans eat will be interesting. They have a delicate palate so I’m excited to see what reception we’ll get,” said second year culinary student Subash Kumar.

The Singapore Festival in France, which has a S$6 million budget, features 70 events in seven cities. To date, 300,000 visitors have attended 40 events, with more coming up before it wraps up on June 30.

Other events include the movie showcase Singapore Cinema In 50 Films, which will be held at the prestigious La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. Comprising a mix of feature and short films, the line-up includes two newly restored classic films from the 1960s: Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Di Julang and Gado Gado. More recent films include Ken Kwek’s Unlucky Plaza and Liao Jiekai’s As You Were. Other events include a concert featuring the Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir, which will also be broadcast live on French radio; restagings of Ong Keng Sen’s Lear Dreaming, Ramesh Meyyapan’s Butterfly and Frontier Danceland artist Christina Chan’s Between; an artist residency by art collective Vertical Submarine and an architecture exhibition by DesignSingapore Council called 1000 Singapores: Eight Points Of The Compact City.

Tan said that the reception of the festival has “exceeded our expectations. It has been very successful so far”. He added that an international cultural event of this magnitude is “a model that works” and did not discount similar events in the future. “Personally, I think it should continue. But it takes time. We prepared for four years.”

But first things first: The food must be of a quality that the French, with their finicky tastebuds, would take to. But senior head at Temasek Polytechnic’s School Of Applied Science chef Randy Chow said they won’t be adjusting the recipes. “I want the dishes to be as authentic as you can get. But of course, chilli and sambal will be served separately.”