15 Food & Drink Events for January and Beyond

2012 has come and gone, so it's time to take a look at the food and drink events taking place in the first month of the new year and a bit beyond that. The docket for January includes the finals of the world's most important cooking competition (Bocuse d'Or), a festival honoring every aspect of the truffle (Oregon Truffle Festival), a showcase of young, ambitious chefs who've yet to become household names (Austin's Indie Chefs Week), and Eric Ripert's annual Caribbean gathering (Cayman Cookout). Here's the full lineup:

Bay Area Brew Festival
When: January 5, 2013
Where: San Francisco, California
What: $40 grants you access to San Francisco's Fort Mason Center during the Bay Area Brew Festival, when dozens of breweries provide unlimited tastings of beer. There'll be more than 100 on offer. NB. A VIP ticket, at $50, grants you one more hour of access, as well as tastings of specialty beers in the first hour.

Indie Chefs Week
When: January 9 - January 12, 2013
Where: Austin, Texas
What: Throughout the course of four days, Austin's Foreign & Domestic will host a series of dinners featuring young, ambitious chefs who've yet to become household names. But a few names, like McCrady's Jeremiah Langhorne and the Dorrance's Ben Sukle, aren't totally under the radar. The series culminates with a 21-course blowout on the final night.

Uncorked Food & Wine Festival
When: January 11 - January 19, 2013
Where: Key Largo and Islamorada, Florida
What: This event doesn't boast any big-name chefs but rather offers a little extra incentive to head down to the Florida Keys in the dead of winter in the form of dinners and boozy gatherings.

Cayman Cookout
When: January 17 - January 20, 2013
Where: Grand Cayman
What: Le Bernardin chef and Avec Eric host Eric Ripert puts on his annual food and wine festival in the Cayman Islands, with returning presenters José Andrés and Anthony Bourdain. There are some new faces, as well, like Manresa chef David Kinch and Eleven Madison Park's Daniel Humm.

Celebrity Chef Tour
When: January 19, 2013
Where: Kohala Coast, Hawaii
What: The Celebrity Chef Tour makes two stops in January, but there's little question that the dinner they're staging in Hawaii is the one to hit. The event will feature Jonathan Waxman, Nancy Silverton, Bruce Bromberg, and Aaron Sanchez at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. Tickets are $250 per person.

Madrid Fusión
When: January 21 - January 23, 2013
Where: Madrid, Spain
What: The star-studded and highly technical Spanish demo festival enters its 11th year with Pascal Barbot, Quique Dacosta, Pierre Hermé, Elena Arzak, Albert Adrià, Andoni Luis Aduriz, and several other culinary heavy hitters. This year show's more of an emphasis on Spain than last year's edition, which offered more of a mix.

Beaver Creek Food & Wine Weekend
When: January 24 - January 27, 2013
Where: Beaver Creek, Colorado
What: This relatively intimate production from Food & Wine includes chefs John Besh, Sam Talbot, and Tim Love. Gail Simmons presides. In addition to offering the obligatory dinners and grand tastings, the festivities will take plenty of cues from the setting. Case in point: snowshoe tours and post-ski burgers.

Oregon Truffle Festival
When: January 25 - January 27, 2013
Where: Eugene, Oregon
What: This is not a bad idea at all: a weekend devoted to truffles, including tastings at a picturesque villa, training sessions so that your dog can learn how to hunt for truffles, and a grand dinner featuring chefs like Nick Balla of Bar Tartine, Elias Cairo of Olympic Provisions, and Gregory and Gabrielle Denton of Ox. Unsurprisingly, demand has been high and tickets are becoming difficult to come by.

Lowcountry Oyster Festival
When: January 27, 2013
Where: Charleston, South Carolina
What: This beloved event enters its 30th year with a tried and tested formula: an oyster shucking competition, an oyster eating contest, and tastings from eight local restaurants and several food trucks. Plus: it's all for charity.

Bocuse d'Or Finals
When: January 29 and January 30, 2013
Where: Lyon, France
What: It's finally here: the U.S. team, with Richard Rosendale as captain, will compete in the biannual cooking competition that's sometimes referred to as the culinary Super Bowl. The team has been prepping intensely over the past year, with guidance from the likes of Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Grant Achatz. Spirits are high.

Looking Ahead:

South Beach Food & Wine
When: February 21 - February 24, 2013
Where: Miami, Florida
What: Lee Schrager's annual mega festival returns, as usual, with more chefs and food media stars than you can shake a stick at. As usual, get your tickets fast. For this year's lineup highlights, see Eater Miami's write-up.

BB&T Charleston Wine & Food
When: February 28 - March 3, 2013
Where: Charleston, South Carolina
What: A very cool food weekend intensely focused on local flavors, traditions, and chefs. There's an even more extensive schedule this year, featuring everything from cocktail demos, fine wine tastings, bourbon luncheons, and a dinner collaboration between Sean Brock, Daniel Patterson, and Ben Shewry.

Melbourne Food and Wine
When: March 1 - 17, 2012
Where: Melbourne, Australia
What: For their 21st year, Melbourne Food and Wine have organized a monster of a festival: 17 days of tastings, master classes, and parties all across Victoria. Draws include the "Master Class," a congress of sorts in which Sean Brock, Magnus Nilsson, Ed Kenney, Enrique Olvera, Virgilio Martinez, Dan Lepard, and Ben Shewry will make presentations

Mesamerica 2013
When: May 20 - May 22, 2013
Where: Mexico City
What: Enrique Olvera's gastronomic festival and symposium enters its second year with a lineup that includes Mexican chefs like Jorge Vallejo, Elena Reygadas, and Diego Hernández Baquedano. Visiting presenters include Andoni Luis Aduriz, René Redzepi, David Kinch, Daniel Humm and Will Guidara, and Alinea designer Martin Kastner.

MAD Symposium
When: August 25 and August 26, 2013
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
What: Organizers have yet to announce the lineup for René Redzepi's MAD Symposium, which will enter its third year in collaboration with the folks at Lucky Peach and Momofuku. If the two first installments are any indication, the intimate symposium will feature some of the world's leading chefs, as well as academics, authors, and purveyors. Redzepi has drafted a letter asking for financial support for the event.

Something missing? Email it in and we'll add to the roster.

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