Celebrating the rich culinary traditions of the South, the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival (AFWF) is thrilled to announce its stellar lineup of chefs and mixologists, along with new programming this year. Tickets are on sale now for both tasting tents and the intimate dinner series, taking place between Thursday, September 9 and Sunday, September 12.
The festival’s highly anticipated Tasting Tents will return to Historic Fourth Ward Park on Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12, and feature wine pop-up stations, a cocktail garden, live music and an interactive food and beverage pairing area. For the first time in the event’s decade-long history, revelers can experience the soon-to-be announced live learning experiences presented by Publix in the form as culinary demos as part of the signature Tasting Tents. Culinary Demos will feature a mix of visiting Southern and local Atlanta culinary personalities who will be educating and entertaining guests during the two days.
To kick off festival weekend, AFWF will be hosting its first-ever barbecue battle competition, where some of the top Georgia hotspots will compete for the title of “best barbecue bite” on Saturday. On Sunday, guests can enjoy the ultimate tailgate party surrounding the big game pitting Atlanta versus Philadelphia. Guests can enjoy a bevy of offerings including elevated football bites prepared by the likes of Top Chef alum John Tesar (Knife), Bruce Kalman (SoulBelly BBQ), Alex Seidel (Mercantile), Giorgio Rapicavoli (Luca Osteria) alongside pit master all-stars Leonard Botello (Truth BBQ), Burt Bakman (Slab BBQ) and more! Throughout the weekend, the Tasting Tents will host a curated Yelp Atlanta spotlight section featuring a variety of their favorite local spots.
AFWF takes pride on its extensive weekend of programming and events where guests can eat, drink and explore the South’s best talent. Intimate live and in-person culinary experiences include a festival collaboration dinner with Lazy Betty’s Ron Hsu and Aaron Phillips, A Taste of España dinner at John Castellucci’s Cooks & Soldiers, Sunday Supper at Deborah VanTrece’s Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours, Southern Revival Brunch at The Woodall with Chef John C. Metz, Italian Sunday feast at Collet- ta Atlanta, The Ultimate Omakase experience at O-Ku Atlanta and curated dinner at 5Church with Chef Whitney Thomas and The Atlantan.
Atlanta has embraced this amazing event for more than 10 years,” says Brett Friedman, Partner and CEO of Agency 21, which owns and operates Atlanta Food & Wine Festival.!Even during the pandemic when we could only operate at a limited capacity, the city’s talented chefs remained vigilant in their support for us. We’re so grateful to be back and to focus the attention where it always belongs, on the people throughout the hospitality industry.”
Continuing with last year’s commitment to give back to the restaurants that helped build this incredible event, a percentage of proceeds will support two local charities. AFWF will be supporting Children of Conservation, with proceeds dedicated to the conservation of endangered species through education, habitat preservation and wildlife sanctuary. In an effort to curb hunger and reduce food waste in the Metro Atlanta area, AFWF will be partnering with Second Helpings Atlanta to collect fresh, surplus food from each of AFWF’s activations to donate to local hunger relief agencies.
In an effort to honor their dedication and drive throughout the pandemic, AFWF will offer 50% off tickets to Tasting Tents for Sunday to frontline workers. In order to redeem the discount, email a21events@squadup.com with proof of profession to be sent a private discount code.