On the FIU Hospitality menu: 7,000 servings a day at SOBEWFF(R)

Cloves, adobo, cumin, fennel and garlic are just some of the ingredients FIU Hospitality Food & Lab Manager and Graduate student Daniel Marcelin is adding to the 750 pounds of pork he’s been marinating this week. Marcelin and lead culinary professor Chef John Noble Masi, along with staff and students at the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management have been preparing thousands of servings of food and batching hundreds of gallons of drinks to serve at their tent inside the Goya Foods Grand Tasting Village during the South Beach Wine & Food Festival®.

On the menu, pulled pork sliders with pickled onions on a Martin’s Famous potato roll and Caribbean Tostones with fresh pico de gallo. 7,000 portions a day will be handed out to Festival guests.

Marcelin, who was born in Haiti, and grew up in North Miami, is infusing some of his culture’s flavors into the recipe. He’s hoping guests will rave about the food. 

“It’s a great experience to be able to showcase what I’ve learned in the program to utilize it for the industry,” said Marcelin.

Marcelin showcasing the pork that will be on the menu at SOBEWFF(R).

Graduate student Aanchal Kehamiani has been just as busy, but her creations will be served behind the bar instead. This semester, she’s been focused on crafting six cocktails and mocktails that will be showcased at two SOBEWFF® events, Grand Tasting Village and Noche Cubana presented by BACARDI Rum, where she will be part of the FIU Bacardi Center of Excellence, an educational partnership between FIU Chaplin School and the iconic spirits brand, to support students studying beverage and hospitality management.

“I’m super excited to share these creations,” said Kehamiani. “I’m not taking credit for all of this myself because I had a lot of help from fellow students and was inspired by their work.”

Guests will be able to try Kehamiani’s take on the Miami Vice, which is typically half Pina Colada, half Strawberry Daiquiri. In her version, which she’s calling the Miami Vice on Ice, Kehamiani infuses a Coconut Oil Washed Bacardi Blend and Strawberry Oleo. “Oleo is a mix of fruits that aren’t going to be used again or thrown out that are blended with sugar. You let that sit and it turns into a syrup,” she added. From strawberry and mango oleo, to coffee syrup made from used coffee grinds, this FIU hospitality senior is focusing her menu on sustainability.

“We’re at this point where we have to look out for the environment and ourselves. Being able to create drinks that are not only delicious, but sustainable makes me feel proud of what I do,” said Kehamiani.

FIU Hospitality senior Aanchal Kehamiani mixing up a coconut oil Bacardi blend.

In addition to food and cocktails, a group of students from the Chaplin School’s Vidal-Duart Wine Studies Program have been working with their professor Geralyn Brostrom researching and working with wine suppliers to showcase a flight of wines as well.

Both Kehamiani and Marcelin want to own their own hospitality companies in the future and think that the experience they are getting at the Festival still as students will help them get there in the future.

“I don’t think I would have gotten this opportunity anywhere else,” ended Kehamiani.

More than 1,500 FIU students help run SOBEWFF® with 100 percent of net proceeds going back to the Chaplin School. More than 40 million dollars has been raised to date. The South Beach Wine & Food Festival® takes place from February 20-23^rd. For more information or to purchase tickets to certain events with the FIU Discount Code FIUFAM15, visit sobewff.org.

Students from FIU Bacardi Center of Excellence have been preparing for the Festival for weeks.