How food festivals took a bite out of America

Seems like every town in America hosts some sort of food festival these days.There’s the quirky ones, like the Gilroy Garlic Festival, first launched in 1979, and the Waikiki Spam Jam, formerly held in Austin, Minn., home of Hormel Foods.Then there are the mac daddies, like Taste of Chicago, the country’s biggest, which has attracted nearly 4 million visitors in recent years, as well as the posh Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, which costs $2,950 a ticket.Perhaps a sign that we’ve reached peak food festival, one of the country’s most revered food and drinks events, our own Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival (NYCWF), is making an historic move this week from the piers of Manhattan’s West Side to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park.

How much it will fill the coffers of the borough has yet to be realized, but business leaders couldn’t be more enthusiastic.“Sixty-two million people visit New York City every year, and only 15 million make it to Brooklyn,” says Randy Peers, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

“How can the restaurant scene and the community at large not benefit” from the NYCWF’s arrival?With more than 100 restaurants participating across 80 demos, dinners and parties  — not to mention dedicated ferries from Manhattan — Peers, a self-described “eternal optimist,” could very well be celebrating a successful new location come closing day on Oct.20.Now officially part of American pop culture, food and wine festivals often make waves well beyond their core product of dining and drinking.

According to researcher Edwin N.Torres, a former professor at the University of Southern Florida, “As visitors, culinarians and locals experience a food and wine festival’s offerings, they develop a strong sense of community .

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[and] attachment to the hosting destinations.” And Brooklyn could very well be the next major beneficiary of this phenomenon.Food and wine festivals are nothing new.H...