Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Presented by Food & Wine Magazine Announces New Healthy Initiative and 2008 Program of Events

Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Presented by Food & Wine Magazine Announces New Healthy Initiative and 2008 Program of Events

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Lee Brian Schrager, Founder and Director of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, announced the launch of a new healthy initiative titled 'Fun and Fit as a Family sponsored by The South Beach Diet' at the 2008 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival scheduled to take place February 21-24, 2008.

'Fun and Fit as a Family' will take fun activities including cooking demonstrations, seminars, exercise programs, exhibitors and healthy food tastings to help promote active and healthy lifestyles to families. 'Fun and Fit as a Family' will kick off with a 'Childhood Obesity Initiative' sponsored by the Agatston Research Foundation and narrated by cardiologist and author of The South Beach Diet, Dr. Arthur Agatston with confirmed panelists Alice Waters, Jamie Oliver and Rachael Ray.

"We couldn't be more excited about having the support of such high profile culinary celebrities like Alice, Jamie and Rachael to help launch this new healthy initiative here in South Florida," stated Schrager about the symposium to kick off 'Fun and Fit as a Family.' "We are even more ecstatic about the potential of what this program can bring to our local community once we collaborate with the local school system to bring healthier eating and exercise programs into the schools."

Other new events at the 2008 Festival include a late night Fettuccine and Fiorentina party hosted by Mario Batali (Iron Chef America) and Jamie Oliver at DeVito's South Beach. Wine Spectator's Samantha Shanken and master sommelier Laura DePasquale will host D'Vine Divas, a dinner celebrating remarkable women in the industry featuring notable female chefs Suzanne Goin (Luques, Los Angeles), Susan Spicer (Bayona Restaurant, New Orleans), Elizabeth Faulkner (Citizen Cake, San Francisco) and Traci des Jardin (Jardiniere, San Francisco) alongside several of the world's best female winemakers. Paula Deen (Paula's Party) will host a fun-filled night of poker at Paula's Poker Party while Emeril Lagasse (Emeril Live) will lead a pack of pastry chefs from Emeril's restaurants nationwide at Emeril's Sugar Shack.

Signature events of the Festival will return with wine and culinary celebrities hosting dinners, tastings, wine seminars, interactive cooking lunches and much more. Wine Spectator's Best of the Best will showcase the talents of the world's greatest chefs and winemakers while the Wine Spectator Wine Seminars, hosted by Executive Editor Thomas Matthews, will feature fine wines from Krug, Chateau Lascombes, Opus One, Smith-Haute-Lafite, Joseph Phelps and Cos D'Estournel among others. Festival favorites Andrea Immer Robinson, Joshua Wesson and Anthony Giglio will all return to lead interactive wine and food pairing seminars in the expanded wine seminar program at the 2008 Festival.

The Festival continues its tradition of paying tribute to remarkable leaders in the industry. At next year's Tribute Dinner, Jean Georges Vongerichten will be honored by the executive chefs of the Jean Georges Management Group while Jamie Oliver will be recognized at the Tribute Brunch for his work in the UK school system along with Jose Ferrer Sala, Honorary Chairman of the Freixenet group.

Title sponsor Food Network returns with its star power headlining several events including Giada de Laurentiis (Giada's Weekend Getaways) hosting the Moet & Chandon BubbleQ and Rachael Ray hosting the Amstel Light Burger Bash. Emeril, Paula and Mario will all host first time events as well as lead culinary demonstrations at the Grand Tasting Village along with Tyler Florence (Tyler's Ultimate), Bobby Flay (Throwdown with Bobby Flay), newcomers Ellie Krieger (Healthy Appetite) and Robert Irvine (Dinner: Impossible) and other Food Network favorites. In between culinary demonstrations guest will have two days to sample food and beverage products in the American Express Grand Tasting Tents.

Tickets for the 2008 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival go on sale Monday, October 15, 2007. For more information, visit http://www.sobewineandfoodfest.com/ or call 305-627-1275.

All proceeds of the Festival benefit the students of FIU's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management who also assist festival organizers with sponsorship fulfillment, restaurant and exhibitor recruitment, logistics, inventory as well as working alongside some of the world's greatest celebrity chefs and winemakers. In addition to receiving a first-rate education in one of the country's most diversified hospitality and tourism markets, these students are provided the opportunity to work hands-on with some of the industry's most experienced leaders.

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine magazine is produced by Florida International University and Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida with the support of the Miami Beach Visitors & Convention Authority and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information about the festival, visit http://www.sobewineandfoodfest.com/ or call 305-627-1275. For more information about Florida International University visit http://www.fiu.edu/, for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management visit http://www.hospitality.fiu.edu/ and for more information about Southern Wine & Spirits visit http://www.southernwine.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: South Beach Wine & Food Festival

CONTACT: Robin Insley of Robin Insley Associates, +1-212-849-8256,
Robin@robininsleyassociates.com, for Food Network South Beach Wine & Food
Festival; Patrick Jong of Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival,
+1-305-627-1275, patrickjong@southernwine.com

Web site:

http://www.sobewineandfoodfest.com/
http://www.hospitality.fiu.edu/
http://www.southernwine.com/

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