Food

Food Festival

As the second half of our name would suggest, the Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival highlights some of the best food in the area.  Since it’s inception in 2001, our food festival has featured lots of unique gourmet specialty food vendors.  You can find everything from farm fresh cheeses, farm raised meats, salsas, BBQ sauce, pasta, pasta sauce, dip mixes, drink mixes, soup mixes, pastries, baked goods, maple syrup, candy, nuts, granola, olive oils and more. In addition, we host some of the region’s most unique Food Trucks & food concessions, we have fantastic Cooking Demonstrations that go on throughout the food festival weekend.

Cooking Demonstrations

Learn the culinary secrets of some of the region’s best Chefs.  In the past, our guests have included veterans from Hell’s Kitchen, Chef Wanted, Chopped, Iron Chef and other culinary television programs. We’ve also featured the Executive Chefs from the Hudson Valley’s best restaurants.  We offer cooking demonstrations all weekend and access to the demos is included in your Food Festival admission.

Demonstration Schedule

Saturday Sept. 8

12pm – Arlyn Osborne – Cake Salé
1pm – Chef Dana Johnson – Oven roasted cauliflower, sauteed zucchini & simple salad using Chef D’s spice blends
2pm – Debbie Gioquindo – Pairing wine with cakeballs
3pm – Chef Gail Sokol

Sunday Sept. 9

12pm – Debbie Gioquindo – Pairing wine with cheese
1pm – Chef Dana Johnson – Oven roasted cauliflower, sauteed zucchini & simple salad using Chef D’s spice blends
2pm – Chef Gail Sokol
3pm – Arlyn Osborne – Cake Salé

2018 Demonstrating Chefs

 

Chef Dana Johnson has been Relishing food since 2000.

For the last 12 years, she has owned and operated restaurants in both Greene and Columbia Counties.  You might know her from Mod Gourmet Cafe or Relish in Hudson, currently working to open her next restaurant. Look for Relish’s Delight coming this fall in Catskill, NY!

She’s won Hudson Valley Magazine’s Best of the Hudson Valley for Best Restaurant Columbia County.  Just this past year she decided that 17 years locked in a kitchen wasn’t enough and so created her own line of spice blends and also spends her time catering special events, consulting and offering cooking classes. She also volunteers as a chef every third Monday for her local Salvation Army.

Join Chef Dana each day of the fest to see what she’s cooking up for you to relish and pick up some of her gourmet spice blends to enhance your own gourmet delights!

Chef Dana is planning several demonstrations including:
Oven roasted cauliflower with Chef D’s Coastal Blend and roasted capers
Sauteed zucchini with Chef D’s Taste of India
Simple salad using Chef D’s Italian Spice in place of dressing

Chef Gail Sokol

Chef Gail Sokol has been a featured speaker and guest chef throughout the United States and has appeared on television, radio and featured in print. Since 2001 Gail has been a member of the faculty of Schenectady County Community College in Schenectady, NY, teaching Baking, Nutrition and Sanitation. Gail is also a faculty member in the Nutrition Department at The Sage Colleges in Troy, NY, teaching Food Science and Quantity Foods. Gail has won numerous culinary awards and professional chef competitions throughout her career.

Baking With Success features 60 recipes, with step by step instructions, background in the baking process, preparation and full color photos throughout the book’s 199 pages. Readers will learn to create a variety of desserts including: Cakes & Frostings, Pies, Tarts & Fruit Desserts, Breads, Cookies, Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts.

I’m so excited to share my passion for baking and the treasured recipes that I have developed throughout my career as a professional chef and educator. My goal is to demystify the baking process so that creating amazing desserts at home is both easy and fun, even if you have never baked before!” said Gail Sokol.

Arlyn Osborne

Arlyn Osborne is the head Culinary Producer and a recurring talent for Genius Kitchen, a millennial sister brand of The Food Network. She also hosts the YouTube channel, The Millennial Kitchen.

She is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York City and has worked with The Food Network, Food & Wine Magazine, Spoon University, The James Beard Foundation, NBC and more.

Arlyn lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and can be spotted at a local Farmer’s Market almost every weekend.

Arlyn will be demonstrating Cake Salé
Alongside a cup of tea or a glass of wine, packed with a picnic, or given as a homemade gift – French savory cake, known as cake salé, is delightful for any moment.  This reinterpreted quick bread is rich yet homey with endless variations that can be transformed throughout the year to highlight seasonal produce.  Arlyn demonstrates two adaptations of this French homestyle favorite – one traditional and one seasonal.

Keep up with Arlyn’s culinary adventures on Instagram: @arlynosborne