Thousands celebrate SoBe, help raise funds for FIU

Foodies, celebrity-chefs and a small army of Panthers converged on Miami Beach for the 10^th Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Feb. 24-27.

They work on it for months in advance and when it’s time to hit the beach they mostly stay behind the scenes, at the sides of “the faces” of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival – the celebrity-chefs – and yet, without them the festival just would not…work.

They are the FIU students who have helped make “SoBe” go round since it moved from Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC) to South Beach a decade ago. The festival got its start as the one-day Florida Extravaganza at BBC in the late 1990s and has grown into its current incarnation as a four-day, world-class event benefitting the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

In 2011, almost 1,000 Panthers helped iron out every kink, however complicated, that organizers and chefs encountered in producing the event. And you better believe some of them already are thinking about 2012.

Thousands have turned this event into an annual must – and have witnessed first-hand just how essential the contributions of FIU students have been to the festival’s success. The chefs who take part in the bacchanalia recognize that this is as much a learning experience for them as it is for the student associates who have a hand in every aspect of production, from set-up to food prep and beyond. (You can take their word for it.)

Spike Mendelsohn from Good Stuff Eatery – you may know him from Top Chef – participated in this year’s sold-out Amstel Light Burger Bash, and as you will see in the video below, he calls the FIU students nothing short of life-savers.

Participating students describe the experience as “overwhelming,” “unbelievable,” “incredible,” “unparalleled” and “a rush.” It is, they say, the best classroom they could ask for – and the best part is, the event benefits them and the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

To date, more than $11 million has been raised for student scholarships and to improve the experience of FIU SHTM students by investing in program development, faculty and facility enhancements.

Check out a photo slideshow of the festival.

Update: More than 53,000 guests attended the 2011 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival and approximately $2.2 million was raised for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center at FIU.