The 1st Annual Cocoa Beach Wine & Food Festival

On March 13, Lori Wilson Park will be transformed into an international tasting village as part of the inaugural Cocoa Beach Wine & Food Festival.

Conceived by Cocoa Beach attorney Tony Hernandez III, the Festival has been three years in the making, and the result of his, Event Manager Matt Gunter and countless others’ tireless work to help showcase the best and most eclectic selection of food Brevard has to offer while helping fill local food banks. As a core organizer, Hernandez could be said to have had a leg up in its development, thanks to his impressive track record as a philanthropist, respected community leader, erstwhile restaurateur and cook, and an avowed food and wine enthusiast who runs a successful law office while juggling several pet causes at the same time.

With all this on his proverbial plate, Hernandez, initially inspired by an encounter with a young penniless family in search of food, enlisted the help of Craig Technologies and SpaceCoast Living to bring the community and the area’s finest restaurants together to combat hunger throughout Brevard County.

Proceeds from this year’s Festival will benefit Project Hunger, a local, grassroots organization that facilitates the disbursement of food to the needy through County food banks. With every $1 the Festival raises, Project Hunger can purchase $9 worth of food for local food banks.

Based on current call volume, and surely influenced by the recent economic downturn, Brevard can expect a 63% increase in requests for referrals to food assistance agencies this year. An estimated 33,000 Brevard residents are considered “food insecure,” and of those people, an increasing number are more likely to spend their limited funds on food than on utilities, medical needs, and rents and mortgages.

But what’s more striking to Hernandez is the lack of complementary staples in local food bank stocks. “There’s always something missing,” he explains. “There never seemed to be sufficient food on hand. There would be cereal, but no milk — or peanut butter and jelly, but no bread. And much of it is just canned.” On top of that, Hernandez says, there was a distinct lack of fresh, nutritious food to help complete well-balanced family meals, which provide vital checks against illness and another of his pet peeves, obesity. “One out of every 7 families doesn’t have sufficient nutritious food for household meals. And then there’s the cost of food in general. It’s much easier for low-income families to buy cheap, fast food than to buy fresh alternatives.”

“The community is overwhelmed with this problem. We can’t depend on the State or Federal Government to help. We have to do it ourselves,” Hernandez says. “We as a community have to bear the burden. We’re talking about children and people here.”

With that admirable goal in mind, the Cocoa Beach Wine & Food Festival will gather an ethnically diverse collection of 13 of Brevard’s most renowned chefs to prepare food samples from their respective countries of origin, which will be paired with wines selected by discerning sommeliers. Seven local seafood restaurants will also participate in the Festival’s Tasting Village, along with baker Linda Lopez of Cape Canaveral’s Bald Strawberry Bakery. Visitors will be given a wine glass for the event as well as a voting ballot, with the results of their favorite creations to be tallied up at the day’s end.

Representing China will be Chef Michael Lee of Yen Yen in Cocoa Beach, while Chef Chai of Cocoa Beach’s Siam Orchid will prepare delicacies from Thailand. An interesting inclusion on the Asian roster is Chef Peter Lin, whose Chameleon Fusion Bistro in Melbourne has won rave reviews for its fusion of European and Pacific Rim flavors. India will be represented by Chef Anil Vadaparambil of Melbourne’s Taste of India. Widely regarded as Brevard’s finest and most authentic Indian restaurant, Taste of India is also highly regarded throughout central Florida for its respect for fresh ingredients, nutritious preparation, and delicately nuanced flavors.

The distinctive, sunny taste of Jamaica comes courtesy of Cape Canaveral’s own Chef Trevor Dixon of Trevor’s Blue Toucan. Though Trevor is adept with a number of international cuisines, he’s earned local fame with the curries, rich sauces, and jerked specialties of his hospitable homeland. An Italian surprise comes in the form of Chef Brano Kunik of Cocoa Beach’s Brano’s Italian Grill. Though a relative newcomer to the local dining scene, Brano’s has quickly gained loyalty for both its adherence to Italian tradition and its courage to push the community gently beyond its pizza and spaghetti comfort zone with items like Veal Ercolano and Eggplant Rolatini. Greek Chefs Zacharias Ligerakis and Nick Poulos will bring the Mediterranean flavors of Cocoa Beach’s Zachary’s Restaurant to the Tasting Village.

The Festival also offers attendants a unique opportunity to experience one of the area’s largely undiscovered gems, Palm Bay’s La Estancia de Luisa. Chefs Lara and Francisco Lara enjoy a devoted, almost secretive following for their traditional Colombian cooking. Representing Cuba is Chef Javier Gonzalez of Cape Canaveral’s Rubio’s Cuban Café and Brazilian Chef Boaz DaCosta will enlighten guests with selections from his Brasas Grill based in Cocoa Village. Another interesting choice is the Festival’s selection of Chef Marlene Khouri. Her Cedars Café specializes in healthy Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisine. Chef Klaus Krause of Izzy’s Bistro will appear on behalf of Germany, and America will have a spot in the Village thanks to Chefs Nancy and Stuart Bortons of Malabar’s Yellow Dog Café.

In light of one of our community’s most defining geographical features, no local wine and food celebration would be complete without a strong showing of some of the area’s best seafood restaurants. Look for Chef Tomislad Saronja of The Surf; Chef Kevin Keller of The Fat Snook; Chefs Garry Bracken and Matt Calowell of Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill; Chef Jason Tavenier of Gregory’s Steak & Seafood Grill; Chef Clen Dunham of The Lobster Shanty; Chef Rick James of Rusty’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, and Chef Mark Stewart of Atlantic Ocean Grille.

After the International Tasting Village, which will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Festival will continue with live music from local band MoGeetz from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., followed by an award ceremony for the best food of the day. Amidst all this, guests can enjoy food vendors (including a fusion ice cream booth) separate from the Tasting Village; an ongoing interactive “Wine 101″ class; booths with high-end handcrafted silver jewelry, accessories, and cosmetics; a tap-equipped beer truck courtesy of the Florida Beer Company; giveaways and raffles; sand sculpture artisans, and a mid-day solo acoustic performance by Cocoa Beach’s own Jamming Joe. The day is capped off by a performance from Three Dog Night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Hernandez hopes this will be the first of many such Festivals to be bound together by a new theme each year. But for now, he has his sights set firmly on improving the lives of needy families with this important inaugural event. “We have to take responsibility and show what we can do as a community to tackle the hunger problem.”

The Cocoa Beach Wine & Food Festival takes place March 13 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, about 1 and 1/2 miles south of S.R. 520. Tickets are $75 and are available for purchase through Ticket Web (www.ticketweb.com), a link for which is also supplied on the Festival’s website: www.cocoabeachwinefooodfestival.com. Due to the nature of the Festival, attendants should be 21 years of age or older. Free Park & Ride Service will be provided from three parking locations: on 520 just west of Sunrise Diner, at Alan Shepard Park at the east end of 520, and at Sidney Fischer Park on the east side of A1A in the central beach area. Visitors will be dropped off at the Cocoa Beach Hilton parking lot, located at 1550 N. Atlantic Ave. Local hotels will also be offering overnight stay specials for the event. Check the Festival website for details.