Food Network Brings Its Primetime Series The Best Thing I Ever Ate To The
2011 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Presented By Food & Wine
February 26th
The Ritz-Carlton
South Beach

Hosted by Ace of Cakes’ Duff Goldman, Food Network presents The Best Thing I Ever Ate at the Beach

As part of the 2011 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine, Food Network presents a Saturday night fête that will bring to life the popular primetime series The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Taking place on February 26th at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach, Food Network presents The Best Thing I Ever Ate at the Beach hosted by Duff Goldman will feature your favorite personalities from Food Network, Cooking Channel and the South Florida area sharing the best thing they have ever eaten on the beach from shorelines across America.

“We are thrilled to headline a new event in honor of the 10th anniversary, that brings to life one of our most popular programs, The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” says Brooke Johnson, President, Food Network & Cooking Channel. “Guests will enjoy interacting with so many of our prominent faces from both Food Network and Cooking Channel while enjoying their favorite dishes from across the country.”

From locations coast to coast, your favorite personalities are bringing their favorite beachside treats and the people who make them straight to South Beach – and it wouldn’t be a celebration without the Grammy Award-winning group KC and the Sunshine Band and Pommery POP Champagne helping you “Get down tonight”!

Join top personalities like Scott Conant and his choice Clandestino Susci from the beachside resort town of Portonova, Italy, serving up oyster mojito shots; Marc Forgione presents the classic Cuban sandwich from David’s Café (Miami Beach, FL); Chuck Hughes alongside Cape Porpoise Lobster Co. (Cape Porpoise, ME) with their fried Maine clams; Claire Robinson with Prime 112 (Miami Beach, FL) sampling chocolate and peanut butter s’mores; and Festival Founder and Director Lee Brian Schrager even joins in on the fun – bringing in Epicure Gourmet Market (Miami Beach, FL) to serve up some of his favorite foods. Dance all night long with Sunny Anderson, Anne Burrell, Bethenny Frankel, Marcela Valladolid, Dwyane Wade, Andrew Zimmern, and many more!

All proceeds from the Festival benefit the Florida International University School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center. The complete program for this year, tickets and more information is available online at www.sobewineandfoodfest.com or by calling the box office at 877.762.3933. Get daily updates on the Festival all year long by following Festival Founder and Executive Director Lee Brian Schrager on Twitter – www.twitter.com/Lee_Schrager.

Food Network (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers’ best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring and empowering through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and averages more than 9.9 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine has tripled its rate base and delivers a circulation of 1.25 million. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24 hour networks in Great Britain, India, Asia and Africa. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Great American Country (www.gactv.com) and Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), is the manager and general partner.

About the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine
All proceeds of the Festival benefit the students of the Florida International University School of Hospitality and Tourism Management who also assist Festival organizers with sponsorship fulfillment, restaurant and exhibitor recruitment, logistics, and inventory as well as working alongside some of the world’s greatest celebrity chefs and winemakers.

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food &Wine 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 www.sobewineandfoodfest.com or call 877-762-3933. For more information about Florida International University visit www.fiu.edu, for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management visit www.hospitality.fiu.edu and for more information about Southern Wine & Spirits visit www.southernwine.com.