South Beach Wine & Food festival has witnessed Miami’s evolution into a ‘food town’

In the days before Michelin stars, omakase bars and extravagant clubstaurants swarmed this tropical paradise, before every New

York restaurateur staked a claim in the sand, Miami’s wine and food festival was a modest event. It had no choice but to be humble: In the late 1990s, the only restaurants most people tended to recognize were The Forge (now late, lamented) and Joe’s Stone Crab.

Optimistically named the Florida Extravaganza, the festival ran for a day at the Biscayne Bay campus of Florida International University, showcasing wines paired with food by local chefs working with hospitality students. By 2002, it had a new name, and by 2007 it had entered into a partnership with the Food Network, which meant big names and familiar faces — Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri,

José Andres — arriving in Miami to tout the joys of eating.

The 2007 festival drew 30,000 to its new home on South Beach. Now in its 22nd year, the four-day South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which benefits the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University, draws an audience that’s twice that size. More than 60,000 attended last year’s brunches, lunches and intimate dinners, late-night parties and family gatherings, seminars, tastings and fitness events.

But the festival isn’t the only element that has changed dramatically over the years. Miami’s evergrowing food landscape, which has been expanding as generously as the waistlines of local foodies, has exploded. Brands from New York and beyond are snapping up prime properties (see Major Food Group’s domination for proof: Carbone, Contessa, Sadelle’s, HaSalon, Dirty French, ZZ’s Club). More iconic restaurants are heading this way, like New York’s Pastis, which is scheduled to open in Wynwood later this year.

Internationally known chefs are arriving seemingly daily, like Tristram Brandt, who recently opened the exclusive Tambourine

Room at the Carillon Miami Wellness Resort. Italian chef Massimo Bottura plans to open an outpost of his Michelin-starred Torno Subito in downtown Miami, and The Surf Club’s Tho

The festival exploded after a partnership with the Food Network was forged

Drinking and eating were the favorite activities during South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash on Feb. 25, 2022.

Chef José Andrés was protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration message at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February 2017, when he tore off his chef’s coat during his speech to proclaim, ‘I am an immigrant.’

MATIAS J. OCNER Miami Herald file Rachael Ray enjoys Rob Goodman’s burger during the Burger Bash on Feb. 26, 2016.