Celebrity Chefs, Competitions, and Cooking Classes Mark 10 Years of Eating

The EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival celebrates its tenth year of all things food, returning to its former home at the newly renovated BC Place Stadium on June 1-3, 2012.

And who best to celebrate the anniversary by making his 10th appearance on the ever-popular Food Network Celebrity Stage presented by Born 3 Eggs: Vancouver’s own Iron Chef America winner and Cactus Club Restaurants Food Concept Architect, Chef Rob Feenie. Other guests on the celebrity stage include Bob Blumer, Host of World’s Weirdest Restaurants and Glutton for PunishmentDavid Rocco, Host of David Rocco’s Dolce VitaAnnabelle Waugh, Food Director for Canadian Living Magazine, and winner of Season One of Food Network Canada’s Top Chef Canada, Chef Dale MacKay of ensemble restaurant & bar and eTap.

Bob Blumer will sign copies of his new book, Glutton for Pleasure, on June 1st and David Rocco will sign copies of his new book, Made in Italy. All books will be on sale throughout the festival.

This year, EAT! Vancouver is host to three nail-biting competitions: The 2012 Western Canadian Regional Barista Championships, the BC Chefs’ Association Chocolate Competition, and the BC Chefs’ Association Grand Culinary Salon. One of 20 of Western Canada’s best baristas will move on to compete in the Canadian National Barista Championships at The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show in Toronto in September 2012.

New for this year is the Pop-Up Culinary Centre, where guests can sign up for one-hour cooking classes taught by instructors from Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.

Veterans of the festival will continue to enjoy the same pavilions, cooking stages, and 250+ exhibitors that have made EAT! Vancouver Canada’s largest consumer food show a success over the years: The International Culinary Stage and Fit to EAT! Stage, TheWorld Culinary Travel Expo, the Wine, Beer & Spirits Tasting Pavilion and Grapes & Hops Presentation Stage hosted by the WineDiva Daenna Van Mulligen, the Bite of Vancouver PavilionDairy Farmers of Canada Cheese Seminars, and the Pets Eat Too! Pavilion.

Long-standing exhibitors of the festival include the Beverage Concepts, Bosa Foods, Cutco, the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, Titanium Exclusive, and Watkins. More than 35,000 visitors are expected to attend over the three-day weekend. For information and tickets please visit www.eat-vancouver.com.