The 3rd Annual Hawaii Food & Wine Festival (HFWF), held from September 1-9, will showcase Hawaii's locally sourced produce, seafood, beef and poultry, and offer cooking demonstrations, wine tastings and cultural excursions.
One of the festival’s daytime highlights will be Girls Got Game +1, featuring Harumi Kurihara of Yutori No Kukan (Tokyo) and Emma Hearst of Sorella (New York). This delectable event brings together more than a dozen superstar chefs and Hawaii farmers, all female except one, for an unforgettable Sunday Brunch collaboration.
Fish and Poi: Lunch at the Loi is a uniquely Hawaii opportunity to visit a historic fishpond and loi (taro field) on the windward coastline of Oahu. Participants will learn how Hawaiian cultural practitioners are keeping the sustainable culinary practices of ancient Hawaii alive today in the best classroom – outdoors and in the field.
The festival will also feature an impressive lineup of wine seminars featuring some of the top producers from California, including Harlan Estate, Rivers-Marie & Aston, Brewer-Clifton and Au Bon Climat. Pinot Noir Study will highlight the best pinot noirs from Thomas Brown (Rivers-Marie & Aston), Steve Clifton (Brewer-Clifton), Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat), and Paul Lato (Paul Lato Wines); a vertical tasting with Harlan Estate; and My Favorite Wine Producers in the World, a journey into the minds and palettes of master sommeliers Richard Betts (Sombra Mezcal of Mexico), Joseph Spellman (JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery) and Roberto Viernes (American Wine and Spirits).
The festival is also pleased to announce fun cooking demos that highlight celebrity chefs, their cooking styles, and favorite ingredients. Rice Plus will feature different incarnations of rice as presented by Chris Cosentino (Incanto) and Sang Yoon (Lukshon). Sweet Endings, Sweet Wine brings pastry chefs Michelle Karr-Ueoka (Alan Wong’s) and Christina Tosi (Momofuku Milk Bar) together to create desserts with Hawaii-grown chocolate and exotic fruits. My Italian Way will feature two of the nation’s top Italian chefs, Celestino Drago (Drago Restaurant Group) and Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto). Fire It Up with Chilis will be a sizzling collaboration from three distinctly different chefs: Dean Fearing (Fearing’s), Charles Phan (The Slanted Door) and Ming Tsai (Blue Ginger).
All daytime events accompany the previously announced signature evening events of HFWF, featuring more than 70 internationally acclaimed master chefs and winemakers from the Hawaiian Islands, the mainland U.S., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia.
To buy tickets, which are discounted through August 23, and to see the full schedule of events, visit www.HawaiiFoodandWineFestival.com.