Every year in February, Miami throws the country’s most epic food festival as only the 305 knows how: with five days of beachfront tasting events, late-night parties, poolside brunches and celebrity appearances. Since 2002, we’ve been gorging on good times and gourmet eats at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), which raises money for Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. Before we make room for the 17th edition of the fest, we crunch the numbers on the food, booze and fun of years past.
2: Counties the festival straddles: Miami-Dade and Broward
$2 million: Celebrity chefs expected to attend in 2018
2/3: Fraction of 2018’s participating chefs that hail from Florida
23: Celebrity chefs expected to attend in 2018
46: U.S. states represented at SOBEWFF 2017
97: Total tastings, events, brunches and parties happening at SOBEWFF 2018
100: Dogs who partied at Rachael Ray’s Nutrish Yappie Hour hosted at the Standard Spa, Miami Beach
1,200: Student volunteers (read: behind-the-scenes heroes) taking tickets, herding celebs and keeping things moving in 2017
10,125: Pounds of ground beef served at 2016’s Burger Bash
65,188: People who walked, danced, gorged and guzzled their way around the 2017 installment of the festival
South Beach Wine & Food Festival is Feb 21–25 (sobewff.org). $24–$350.
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