The Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival, after its hugely successful inaugural edition, will return to Eswatini (Swaziland) this year from August 2nd -August 3rd 2019. Set on the lavish lawns of the House on Fire Sculpture Garden at Malandela’s against a breath-taking backdrop of endless cane fields and rolling hills, this is a not-to-be event missed for any food enthusiasts, culture buffs and travellers. Luju is a unique and sophisticated African-vintage styled event celebrating the local, the wholesome, the creative, and the delicious.
In an exciting development for this year, the Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle 2019 Festival will take place over two days, commencing on the evening of 2nd August.
Guests will be able to stay on site with Rush Glamping who will provide a state of the art Glamping experience on the Luju Festival grounds that includes en suite hot showers and toilets, providing a home away from home for our local and international guests.
New travel packages will also include charter flights to make getting to this weekend feast of local flavour as quick and easy as possible.
The 2019 edition of the Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival promises to be a sensory experience unlike any other under the theme: A return to the African future. As we return to ourselves, we return to a time when we respected the soil, treading lightly with bare feet. A time when our hands sowed seeds of an abundant harvest, hope and love.
To that end, all elements of the Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival, including food vendors and curators must be ethical and sustainable in their approach to farming and food. The festival will continue to encourage conversations about our consumption habits and our role in conserving nature and the sustainability of our planet through various thematic activations.
Love to Cook with SIBA: Headliner Culinary Program
This love and honouring of food is at the heart of the festival and the House on Fire Amphitheatre, that will host a specially designed Culinary Programme that will be an interactive showcase headlined by one of Africa’s hottest and most loved culinary exports and experts, Siba Mtongana from the internationally acclaimed TV show, Cooking with Siba.
The Luju Festival culinary experiences will include intimate cooking demonstrations and master-classes with celebrity chefs, where participants will get to experience and sample the world-famous cuisine of our celebrity chefs, and hopefully, learn a thing or two from the experts themselves in the process. Be sure to arrive early at the Festival, to not miss out on this once in a lifetime experience.
This space will allow for intimate audience interaction with celebrity chefs, an exploration into our cultural heritage through traditional and locally sourced ingredients, culinary master classes and a Kids Kitchen competition.
An Adventure of Beverages
To accompany the various food activations, Luju will be offering an array of drinks spaces and activations. The Drinks Promenade, at the centre of the Luju gardens, is our new adventure within an adventure, that will allow guests to journey through the Luju gardens while experiencing exclusive wines, whiskeys, craft beers and gins from a selection of our new beverage partners.
For the more sophisticated palate, the Wine Saloon presents an array of wines and demonstrations from seasoned masters, relaying the art & history of winemaking. To that end, Luju is excited to once again, partner with eighteen13, a wine boutique that offers a selection of the finest wines from South Africa that are not widely available
The Craft Gin and Beer Garden will offer an expansive selection of quality craft beers including special brews from the finest breweries in Africa, while The Top Deck Lounge will provide festival goers an all-inclusive quality whisky tasting experience complete, waiter service, and a farm-style a-la-carte menu, complemented by a great panorama view of the festival arena.
For a premium experience, the new and improved Standard Bank Premium Lounge will, this year, include an additional selection of speciality cuisine traders for our premium guests to enjoy, without leaving the comfort of the lounge.
Designer Lifestyle
The 2019 Luju theme is also brought to life in the Design Café – a space that takes us on a journey of celebration though sculptural art and design work. All elements in the are designed and infused with simple materials that preserve our culture and embrace our environment. Offering focus on creating comforts within our homes and preserving our heritage. Simple pleasures like taking time to swing and discovering small histories is what we yearn at the Design Café.
Sway the Night Away
In addition to the full array of food and lifestyle activities taking place across the Luju landscape, The Standard Bank Luju main stage will feature an inspired array of jazz, Afro-pop, blues, acapella and much more, from high profile, acts from the region and beyond.
The Standard Bank Luju Festival is excited to confirm the legendary Bonga Maffin from South Africa as a headline act who will take to the stage on Saturday night.
Additional confirmed acts include The Muses, the four glamorous and gorgeous classically trained musicians who transform popular and contemporary music through violin and cello.
Eswatini’s Amanda Mo, MTN SWAMA Best Afro Pop Artist 2018, will perform her chart-topping hits, while Mozambique’s Ghorwane, who continues to be one of the largest musical groups in the country with an international career that spans over 35 years, will bring their unique flavour to the Luju stage.
South Africa’s GrassRootz project is the musical embodiment of the Luju theme as it sets out to revive the history and re-connect us with our South African Musical Heritage.
Tickets for the Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival are on sale now and can be purchased here:Â www.house-on-fire.com/luju/tickets/
