This week Charleston Wine + Food (CHSWF) released its March 6 through March 10, 2024 schedule; tickets for the annual food festival go on sale at 11 a.m. Oct. 19. The 2024 festival features more than 100 events including signature dinners, excursions and the much-loved Culinary Village.
All events are all-inclusive, and separate tickets are sold for individual events. There are two weekend pass ticket options, which both include access to the Culinary Village and, depending on the pass, up to five signature events.
Alyssa Maute Smith, the festival’s executive director since January 2023, said the festival hopes to offer an experience for everyone, from locals to visitors. In that vein, the festival brings back its free street festival which was held for the first time last year and saw more than 3,500 attendees. Partnering with the city of Charleston, the Upper King Street festival featured food trucks, a wine and beer garden and live entertainment.
“It was hyper local and really family-friendly,” Maute Smith said. “Because all of our events are 21 and up, we know that parents like to engage in that level of culinary experience, too.”
What’s new and what’s back
The 2024 festival introduces a dedicated non-alcoholic zone, the “sober garden,” in the Culinary Village, which will feature non-alcoholic wines and cocktails. Maute Smith said the festival is also amping up its low ABV options and hoping to bring back last year’s coffee bar in the Culinary Village.
The festival has offered low- and no-ABV options for years now, but this year, Maute Smith said there will be even more of an emphasis on education, including some low-ABV workshops.
Also new this year is an event called Lowcountry High Life, which celebrates all things Lowcountry, from boiled peanuts to ice cold beer.
As always, the festival offers a lengthy list of signature dinners and events which highlight both visiting and local chefs.
Maute Smith pointed to the Palmira Barbecue Signature Dinner as an example of one event that personifies the festival’s general mission: to bring in global and dynamic flavors while staying rooted in the Lowcountry. The dinner features Palmira’s chef Hector Garate and Houston’s Khói Barbecue chef Don Nguyen cooking up what they’re calling “Sovieto-style barbecue,” fusing Puerto Rican and Vietnamese cuisines with barbecue traditions from Texas and the Carolinas.
“Charleston is a port city, and we draw in travelers from all over the world,” Maute Smith said. “Something that’s been exciting for me as someone who’s from here is to see [the city’s history] brought back to the forefront of our dining scene. The amount of new international restaurants that have opened in the past five years is phenomenal.”
More than a dinner
Maute Smith said the 2024 festival includes more signature dinners, lunches and brunches than ever before. While low-capacity events do tend to sell out, there is the option to get on a waitlist for popular events.
“These sit-down dining experiences are rooted in storytelling,” she said. One dinner with a particular emphasis on storytelling is The Root of it All, featuring chef Kevin Mitchell and James Beard-nominated Black food historian KJ Kearney.
Presented by the Department of Agriculture, this event looks at the past, present and future of Black farmers, purveyors and chefs.
In general, Maute Smith said “farmers and purveyors are the stars of the plate” at CHSWF. “Due to our proximity to the sea, and being an agriculture-heavy state, we have access to the best of the best ingredients,” she said.
All CHSWF chefs and participants receive stipends for their ingredients, and the festival offers a preferred local vendor list to encourage them to support local farmers and purveyors.
Learn more and buy tickets online at charlestonwineandfood.com.
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