Atlanta Food & Wine Festival
You’ve no doubt heard about the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival which goes down next month. The Atlanta Food and Wine Festival takes place from May 19 – May 22. This weekend long celebration will include not only award-winning chefs, Master Sommeliers, but barbecue pitmasters and local growers. It is wonderful that we are finally celebrating the rich food and beverage traditions of the South. Festival goers have the opportunity to not only sample food but see cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, special dinners with celebrity chefs. Tickets start at $75 and go to $2,500.
The festival is focused on highlighting the rich traditions of the South in three different ways.
Old Traditions – farm-to-table, soul food, barbecue, Cajun & Creole, meat & three, sweets, bourbon
New Traditions – New Southern food and beverage traditions, techniques and flavors, celebrity chefs
“Other Southern”– Food, wine and spirits from other Southern regions around the globe, including Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece), South Africa, South America, Southern Hemisphere (Australia and New Zealand) and South-of-the-Border (Mexico and the islands south of the U.S.).
The Atlanta Food and Wine Festival has different events to suite all tastes and budgets. There is the highfalutin Connoisseur Lounge, the Tasting Tents and the Street Cart Pavilion. By far the most pricey, the Connoisseur lounge offers the most elite pass for demonstrations, private dinners, seminars and more.
The Festival Tasting Tents lead guests through a culinary exploration of the South, featuring themed tasting “trails”. Guests will sample Barbecue, Fried Chicken, Low Country, Southern Snacks, Craft Beer, Lamb, Sweets and Breads, and favorites from other Southern regions around the globe, like Southern Europe.
Street Cart Pavilion provides guests access to a growing food movement across the South: street food. Guests will enjoy the flavors from a sampling of street cart vendors from across the region, including tacos, sweets and barbecue.
The Street Cart Pavilion will be open during the Tasting Tent sessions and then again on Friday and Saturday evening for a Late Night Party.
Not only does the festival celebrate eating and drinking well but creators, Dominique Love and Elizabeth Feichter, are giving back to the community. Festival proceeds will be given to nonprofit organizations working to preserve Southern culture, increase consumer access to locally-grown foods and to help young people build careers in the culinary world. The Atlanta Food & Wine Festival will also be implementing a number of practices, including recycling and composting, to reduce our carbon footprint.
For more information or to buy tickets to the festival visit the official Atlanta Food and Wine Festival site.
(Dominique Love, AF&WF co-founder, Eli Kirshtein, Top Chef Contestant and AF&WF Street Cart curator)
We were lucky enough to be invited to a Tweet and Greet where we were was able to sit down with fellow foodies to a behind the scenes look, while co-founder Dominque Love (pictured above at the festival headquarters) shared with us here insights into the planning of the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. After hearing Dominque tell us about the amazing festival ahead, we were treated to a lovely lunch with goodies all prepared by the Founders Council. See below a list of what we were treated to. What a divine spread! Everything was heavenly! Certainly whet our appetite for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. Thanks to 360 Media and Dominique Love, festival co-founder for putting together such a wonderful experience!
Here’s a list of the chef, restaurant and what they prepared:
Hilary White (The Hil) – spinach salad, sweet potato rolls, butter and green veggies
Ford Fry (JCT Kitchen)–fried chicken
Marie Nygren (Serenbe) – Grit Casserole
Gerry Klaskala (Aria) – Crab and Fennel Salad
Shaun Doty(YEAH! Burger) – pickled mushrooms and pickled beets
Jim Laber and David Roberts (Community Q) – Mac n’ cheese & banana pudding
Pano Karatassos (Buckhead Life) – Lamb, Spinach and Cheese pies
Duane Nutter (One Flew South) – mustard greens and sweet potatoes
Hugh Acheson (Empire State South) – Bahn-mi Sandwiches