Chef Peng Looi at EPCOT Int'l Food and Wine Fest

My husband and I just returned from the 14th annual International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. We stumbled on this fest 10 years ago and were so impressed that we bought a timeshare and have returned nearly every year to enjoy the various events and to take friends for fun. One of the premier events on Saturdays is a "Party for the Senses" which is a way more upscale Taste of type of event with various chefs and wineries from all over offering freshly prepared samples. It's not cheap, but the presentation, flavors and entertainment are top notch. This year, each week has a "theme". Ours was classical cuisine, which didn't make much sense overall, but they had a 6 piece ensemble doing "classical" music to beats. They were FABulous.

Next week's Party features Louisville's incredible chef Peng Looi. I double checked to make sure that he was THE chef and found out that he has participated in this event in 2007 as well. He must be too modest to toot his own horn, but how wonderful to have his talent and our city on display at this interntional event which has become SO popular. We were able to attend a culinary exhibition from Hot Hot Fish Club in Birmingham (Shrimp and grits!) and 3 wine seminars from Puglia, Italy and Mac Murray Ranch (Fred's daughter owns it) and Schweiger Vineyards in Napa. The Schweiger 04 Cab is spectacular, btw. In addition to enjoying and purchasing wine, food and gifts, we found some stunning art fro artist Heather French....no relation to Mrs. Henry! Did I mention the skies were blistering blue and the temps in the 70's? Disney for adults is a real pleasure!

We always miss Food and Wine by a few weeks but we intend to make it there sometime in the future. I recall seeing that Peng Looi was there before I think but had forgotten. My parents were there for week 1 this year and really enjoyed it.

An absolutely fabulous event which goes on for six weeks. This year they changed the format and have a weekly theme by cuisine. All guest chefs did a culinary/wine pairing demo for up to 100 participants and served 1000 guests at the 'Party for the Senses'. The Epcot events kitchen staff and organisers were very professional and organised too and made our task enjoyable.

I will also be at the Charleston Food and Wine Festival 2010 in early March and hope to see you all there. As usual I will be making efforts to spread the word(during my demo) about Louisville's great culinary scene to make up for the city governement's lack of effort in this category.

I was fortunate enough to be enlisted by Chef Looi to assist on this trip and was astounded by the quality and magnitude of the event. This is his third year attending and the only chef ever to be invited from Kentucky. (Hopefully we can get a few more on the list..)

The Party For The Senses featured very creative cuisine prepared by some of the best chefs from around the country, along with some of the best wineries, breweries, and distillers. My favorite was the pork belly although I can't recall the chef. There are around 1,000 guests with 25 chefs and 25 wineries, set up like a huge cocktail party.

Demonstrations and tastings are scheduled throughout the week. Lots of crafts and art also available for purchase.

The rest of the park is riddled with kiosks featuring different cuisines from around the world paired with beverages of all sorts. My expectations were exceeded several times to my surprise. I had some wonderful Barramundi in Australia, and a delightful frozen caipirinha in Brazil. The kiosks represent more than just what countries have a presence at Epcot, such as South Africa and New Zealand. Chef Tuan and I spent our last day touring the different drinks from around the park, what a great way to cap off the trip!

Congrats to Chef Looi and Anderson.