Best Things To Do At South Beach Wine & Food 2018

Your cheat sheet to one of the country's largest food events

Miami is gearing up for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, where more than 65,000 people will converge for five days of tastings, cooking demos, seminars and late-night parties.

Chefs and culinary personalities will lead more than 90 events across South Florida from Wednesday, February 21, through Sunday, February 25. There will be Guy Fieri's Burger Bash, Marcus Samuelsson's Harlem to Overtown Jazz Brunch, Robert Irvine's Barry's Bootcamp and Bites and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Española Way Block Party (with beats by rapper Action Bronson).

New this year are master classes, where you'll learn bread baking from Sullivan Street Bakery and how to fry doughnuts from popular Miami spot The Salty Donut. Other first-time events include Bobby Flay and his daughter Sophie's Late-Night Desserts & Dancing, pastry king Duff Goldman's Family Ice Cream Social and Emeril Lagasse's ultimate clambake. Looking for something more intimate? Chefs like José Andrés, Daniela Soto-Innes, Daniel Boulud, Scott Conant and Alex Guarnaschelli will be hosting themed private dinners. 

But the gem of SOBEWFF is the Grand Tasting Village, which will take place during the day on Saturday and Sunday. The hub will be home to more than 50 different food concepts dishing out unlimited bites, from steak, tacos and poke to doughnuts, cookies and ice cream (plus bottomless wine, beer and spirits). As attendees guzzle food and drink on the sand, a select group of chefs will hit the stage for interactive cooking demos.

And just like New York City Wine & Food, SOBEWFF will have a charitable edge. Proceeds will go toward Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.

Tickets to events, including the Grand Tasting Village, are still available, but there's no telling how long they will last.