Winter Food Festivals

Oyster Festivals are over, and the famed Aspen food fest isn't until summer. But there's no dearth
of culinary escapades this winter.

If you want to get to the South Beach Food & Wine Festival (Feb 21-24) you'd better get it in gear and start booking tickets. It's a hot one, presented by Food & Wine Magazine, and featuring celeb chefs like Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Eric Ripert, Rachel Ray, Alton Brown, Giada DeLaurentiis, Florence Tyler, and Martha Stewart, among others. Events are selling out fast. Weekend passes are gone, but there are specific daily programs and after-parties that are still open.

If you miss the boat on that one, you may still have a shot at getting to sunny Florida to hit the Naples Winter Wine Festival from January 26-28 (but for considerably more money). Though not a TV Food Network roster of faces, its chefs are just as esteemed: Daniel Boulud, Dan Barber from New York's Blue Hill, Tom Colicchio from Craft in New York, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril (he's a busy guy this winter), Tony Mantuano from Chicago's Spiaggia, Mark Ladner from Del Posto in NYC, Michael Cimarusi from Providence in LA (and the list goes on, including star vintners). Vintner dinners take place in private, elegant Naples homes, at the Ritz-Carlton, and various golf resorts. The event is based on an auction of fine wines to benefit a children's charity.

More down to earth perhaps is the Twin Cities Food & Wine Experience in Minneapolis: "A Winter Combo Festival" that lets you taste and learn from over 300 food, wine, and kitchen gadgetry exhibitors including more than 400 wines and 80 restaurant and gourmet food professionals. Private Wine Seminars are also given and they have fun special events like the Grand Red Tasting, Girls' Night Out, and Private Wine Lunches. Besides great local chefs, national ones like Rick Bayless and Tim Scott will be on hand as well.

The Washington DC International Wine and Food Festival on February 21-24, sells one- and two-day grand tasting tickets for $65-$85. There's a Master Culinary Stage with chefs like Jeff Black from Black Restaurant Group and Noriaki Yasutake from Perry's, as well as guided tastings and seminars like "An Exploration of Port, Chocolate, and Cheese with David Hunt from Hunt Cellars or New Zealand Pinot Noir with Michael Franz (individually-priced).

I know I plugged Iceland recently in my TripConnect Romance Blog, but I failed to mention another reason to go there in winter. The Food and Fun Festival from February 21-25. This is for the gastronomic Viking (all you Anthony Bourdain types) who don't get squeamish at the idea of sampling hunks of shark meat, fish chins, or puffin. This festival is essentially a competition among international chefs who partner up with a Reykjavik restaurant or the week and prepare special menus using only national ingredients (Icelandic lamb, seafood, naturally-grown vegetables (who knew it was possible there?) all washed down by that crystal-clear Icelandic spring water.