Oh, yes! It’s that time of the year when everything is about food, chefs, wines, celebrities, parties and sunny South Beach becomes the ultimate destination for foodies. The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is here and you still have a chance to enjoy it.
From Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th, Miami will host a one of a kind extravaganza, showcasing the talents of the world’s most renowned winemakers, spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities. Daniel Boulud, Anthony Bourdain, Michelle Bernstein, Alex Guarnaschelli, Arthur Agatston, Rocco DiSpirito, Eric Ripert, Todd English, Paul Bartolotta, Jennifer Behar, Masaharu Morimoto, Rachel Ray, Guy Fiery, Bobby Flay, Duff Goldman, Ingrid Hoffman, Aaron Sanchez and Emeril Laggasse; are just a sample of the names that will converge on Miami Beach to entertain and educate thousands of guests while creating unique opportunities for the students of FIU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management to gain invaluable hands-on experience through their participation in the festival.
So if you really enjoy cooking or just like eating, these are days to feel you are in paradise. Near 50 events that go from exclusive dinners, to wine seminars; from the Burger Bash to Bubble Q, including the Grand Tasting Tend and Fun and Fit as a Family; you have plenty to choose from. You can learn during seminars, be part of the show, rub elbows with your favorite personalities, get your cookbook signed or eat and drink what you want. It is definitely a sizzling, hot, bubbling, fresh experience.
Hurry up and check out for more information about the events and tickets available. Visit Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival
2010 Honor guests
Daniel Boulud: 2010 honored chef
This year the Festival will honor one of the most celebrated French culinary icons in the United States. The 2010 Tribute Dinner will honor world-renowned chef Daniel Boulud – recipient of the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur from the French government for his contribution to the advancement of French culinary culture. The celebration will take place at the Loews Miami Beach, and Food & Wine’s Gail Simmons-once the special events manager for Chef Boulud’s restaurant empire-will host the special tribute evening.
While French Ambassador to the United States, the Honorable Pierre Vimont, will join the Festival in a special celebration of the Champagne Region of France and the cuisine of France in 2010. Ambassador Vimont will host an exclusive champagne lounge at Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best, sponsored by Bank of America, at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach on Friday, February 26, 2010. The celebration of Champagne, France’s most famous export, will add flair never before experienced at this illustrious event. Champagne will accentuate the sampling plates assembled by celebrated chefs and an international array of fine wines – each recognized as superior by Wine Spectator – will provide another welcome opportunity to try something new and refined.
From the Florida Extravaganza to The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival
The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine began as a one-day festival known as the Florida Extravaganza held at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus from 1997 to 2001. In 2002, Lee Brian Schrager, director of Special Events and Media Relations at Southern Wine & Spirits of America, took the reigns of the one-day festival and brought his vision for the festival to life by relocating it to South Beach. The renamed South Beach Wine & Food Festival attracted close to 7,000 guests to a series of dinners, seminars and a Grand Tasting and Live Auction in its first year. The following year, the festival grew, attracting close to 10,000 people and garnered extensive national media coverage. In 2004, with the addition of a number of events and a revamping of the program, the festival doubled in size and attracted more than 20,000 guests to the three-day event.
In 2006, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival celebrated its fifth anniversary and became one of the largest and most well-known festivals of its kind in the country. During the planning of the 2007 festival, Food Network entered into partnership with the South Beach Wine & Food Festival to become its title sponsor. The resulting Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine combines the international appeal of top-quality libations from around the world, the national appeal of the Food Network and its celebrity chefs and hosts, and the appeal of Latin and Caribbean-inspired regional cuisine. The 2009 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival attracted close to 50,000 guests over four days and garnered an unprecedented amount of media coverage.
Hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida and Florida International University (FIU), the festival benefits FIU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management Teaching Restaurant and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center To date, the Festival has raised over $8 million for the School. In 2011, the Festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary and will commemorate it with the release of Festival Director, Lee Brian Schrager’s book, Sizzling Hot: Celebrating 10 Years of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival (Clarkson Potter, Fall 2010), in collaboration with Julie Mautner.
The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is also supported by the Miami Beach Visitors & Convention Authority and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.
