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The is a national, star-studded, four-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world’s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities. Hosted by , the festival benefits the Teaching Restaurant and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center, both located at FIU.
Now in its sixth year, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival began as a one-day festival known as the Florida Extravaganza held at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus. For five years, the Florida Extravaganza showcased wines from national and international wineries paired with food from local restaurants and chefs working with students of FIU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
In 2002, , director of Special Events and Media Relations at Southern Wine & Spirits of America, reinvented the Florida Extravaganza. Relocating to South Beach, the renamed South Beach Wine & Food Festival attracted close to 7,000 guests to a series of dinners, seminars and the 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 celebrated its fifth anniversary and today is 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 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.
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