The Sumba Food Festival returns to Cap Karoso, the eco-luxury resort on Indonesia’s remote Sumba Island, from 5 to 18 October 2026. The second edition will bring together eight of the Asia-Pacific’s most celebrated chefs for two weeks of extraordinary dining, cultural immersion and meaningful community impact in one of Southeast Asia’s most spectacular destinations.
The 2026 culinary line-up spans Michelin-starred restaurants and Asia’s 50 Best alumni, including Joseph Lidgerwood of Evett in Seoul, Dan Bark of Cadence in Bangkok, Eelke Plasmeijer of Locavore NXT in Ubud, Yusuke Takada of La Cime in Osaka and Keiko Kuwakino of Sanaburi at Satoyama Jujo. Across fourteen days, guests can join intimate four-hands dinners, farm-to-table experiences, market visits, food safaris, beach dinners and ocean adventures where they fish alongside the chefs before sharing the day’s catch.
More than a luxury food festival, the event celebrates the ingredients, traditions and communities of Sumba. Visiting chefs will work with produce grown on Cap Karoso’s three-hectare organic farm, while guests experience traditional Sumbanese dance, wellness rituals, permaculture tours and family activities. Proceeds will support local initiatives spanning clean-water access, nutritional education, sustainable farming and grants for food entrepreneurs using native Sumbanese produce.
For Wanderlust Union, the Sumba Food Festival captures the kind of story that defines exceptional modern hospitality: a compelling sense of place, extraordinary culinary talent and a genuine connection with the local community. As luxury travel and hospitality PR and communications experts, Wanderlust Union specialises in sharing distinctive stories like these through strategic storytelling, media relations and creative campaigns for leading hotels, resorts and travel brands across Australia and around the world.
