Why the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s 25th anniversary is a culinary and cultural can’t-miss event
Every February, Miami becomes something more than a destination. It becomes a stage. For four days, the city transforms into a living, breathing celebration of food, culture, music, and creativity as the Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival presented by Capital One returns with unmatched scale and energy. In 2026, that transformation carries extra weight. SOBEWFF is celebrating its 25th anniversary, marking a milestone that reflects how far the Festival has come and how deeply it has shaped the national culinary conversation.
What began as a regional food gathering is now one of the most influential experiential platforms in the country, drawing more than 500 chefs and celebrity talent and tens of thousands of attendees annually. It is also a powerful engine for education, having raised more than $45 million to support Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. This year’s programming is bigger, louder, and more immersive than ever, stretching across Miami Beach, the mainland, and beyond.
In a crowded festival landscape where many events feel interchangeable, SOBEWFF stands apart because it has never treated food as a silo. From its earliest years, the Festival has understood cuisine as culture, a connective force that brings together entertainment, travel, philanthropy, and education in ways that feel authentic rather than manufactured. That philosophy is especially visible in this 25th anniversary edition, where the programming feels less like a retrospective and more like a forward-looking snapshot of where food, hospitality, and live experiences are headed next. SOBEWFF 2026 is not resting on legacy. It is using it as fuel.
If you love food, travel, culture, or simply being where the energy is, here are ten reasons SOBEWFF 2026 belongs at the top of your calendar.
1. It is not just a festival. It is a full-scale cultural takeover.
SOBEWFF does not simply host events. It redefines Miami for four days. From sunlit beachfront tastings to late-night DJ sets and chef-driven spectacles, the Festival blurs the lines between culinary celebration, entertainment, and destination travel. The 25th anniversary amplifies that ambition, expanding the Festival’s footprint and layering food with music, pop culture, and nightlife in a way few events can match. With more than 105 events on the schedule and talent spanning food, television, fashion, and music, SOBEWFF feels less like a weekend festival and more like a citywide experience that rewards curiosity and appetite in equal measure.
2. Mike’s Amazing Burger Bash is a legend for a reason.
Thursday night’s Mike’s Amazing Burger Bash presented by Schweid and Sons is more than an opening event. It is a rite of passage. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Burger Bash brings together top restaurants from across the country, each vying for ultimate burger bragging rights. Hosted by Rachael Ray, with Brooklyn Peltz Beckham joining as co-host and debuting a special dish created exclusively for the event, the evening blends competition, indulgence, and star power. A judging panel that includes Gayle King, Ashley Graham, Bert Kreischer, and Nick DiGiovanni ensures the stakes are real. Thousands of burgers later, one chef walks away with the coveted title, and guests leave knowing they just witnessed one of the most iconic moments in American food festivals.
3. Wine Spectator Trade Day sets the tone for what comes next.
Friday afternoon’s Wine Spectator Trade Day hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits offers a sophisticated counterpoint to the Festival’s more raucous moments. Designed for industry insiders, this event is where conversations happen, palates are challenged, and trends begin to crystallize. Producers, distributors, and professionals gather to taste, connect, and exchange insights that ripple far beyond the Festival weekend. It is polished, purposeful, and quietly influential, reminding attendees that SOBEWFF is as much about shaping the future of food and drink as it is about celebrating the present.
4. Guy Fieri turns competition into pure spectacle.
Friday night’s Coca-Cola presents Tournament of Champions hosted by Guy Fieri delivers Food Network adrenaline at full throttle. This is culinary competition designed for a live audience, complete with high-energy judging, bold flavors, and theatrical flair. The addition of a live performance by Rev Run elevates the night from cooking show to cultural event. It is loud, fast, and unapologetically fun, capturing the spirit of Miami while showcasing the intensity and creativity that define modern food entertainment.
5. The Grand Tasting Village is the beating heart of the Festival.
Saturday and Sunday afternoons belong to the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village featuring Publix Culinary Demonstrations sponsored by Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove. Hosted by Sofia Vergara and Manolo Vergara, the Village is a sprawling culinary playground where guests can wander, taste, sip, and discover at their own pace. Live demonstrations, brand activations, and endless bites create a choose-your-own-adventure experience that rewards curiosity. Saturday’s addition of a Ja Rule performance on the Only in Dade stage underscores how seamlessly SOBEWFF blends food with music, turning a daytime tasting into an all-out celebration.
6. FoodieCon adds global flavor and travel inspiration.
Saturday’s FoodieCon presented by The Islands of The Bahamas brings a distinct sense of place to the Festival. This immersive experience blends culinary storytelling with travel inspiration, spotlighting island flavors, culture, and creativity. It is a reminder that food is one of the most powerful gateways to understanding a destination, and that SOBEWFF is as much about exploration as it is about indulgence.
7. Master’s of Fire taps into something primal.
Saturday night’s Master’s of Fire hosted by Tyler Florence celebrates cooking at its most elemental. Live-fire techniques, bold flavors, and dramatic presentations come together in an event that feels both ancient and modern. Flames flicker, chefs push boundaries, and guests experience food in its rawest, most visceral form. It is a standout moment that proves why fire-driven cuisine continues to captivate chefs and diners alike.
8. Tacos and tequila take over the Miami Design District.
Saturday night’s Tacos and Tequila presented by Tequila Cazadores hosted by Aarón Sánchez brings the Festival into the heart of the Miami Design District. This ticketed event combines bold Mexican flavors with flowing pours and a late-night vibe that feels effortlessly Miami. It is social, celebratory, and perfectly timed for those who want to keep the energy going long after the sun sets.
9. Sunday’s finale honors legacy and celebration.
Sunday evening’s BACARDÍ presents 25 Years of Legendary Bites and Iconic Sips hosted by Andrew Zimmern is both a look back and a toast forward. The event celebrates the Festival’s history while embracing its future, pairing thoughtfully crafted food with expertly mixed cocktails. DJ CASSIDY’s performance brings a high-energy soundtrack that feels celebratory rather than nostalgic, closing the weekend on a note of collective appreciation and joy.
10. Every bite supports the future of hospitality.
Perhaps the most meaningful reason to attend SOBEWFF is its mission. One hundred percent of net proceeds benefit FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, and more than 1,500 students gain hands-on experience each year working alongside world-class chefs, winemakers, and brands. SOBEWFF is not just an event. It is a training ground, a scholarship engine, and a living classroom that ensures the next generation of hospitality leaders is ready to thrive.
Few cities know how to host spectacle the way Miami does. Its energy is visual, sonic, and social all at once. SOBEWFF harnesses that spirit and amplifies it through food, bringing together chefs, artists, brands, and audiences in settings that feel inseparable from the city itself. In 2026, the Festival’s expanded footprint and layered programming make Miami not just the location, but a co-star in the experience.
SOBEWFF 2026 is not simply a food festival. It is a milestone moment, a destination experience, and a cultural event that captures Miami at its most vibrant. With tickets already on sale and more talent announcements still to come, this 25th anniversary promises to be one for the history books.
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Entrepreneur Leadership Network member Merilee Kern, MBA is an internationally-regarded brand strategist and analyst who reports on cultural shifts and trends as well as noteworthy industry change makers, movers, shakers and innovators across all categories, both B2C and B2B. This includes field experts and thought leaders, brands, products, services, destinations and events. As Founder, Executive Editor and Producer of “The Luxe List,” Merilee is a prolific business, lifestyle, travel, dining and leisure industry voice of authority and tastemaker whose work appears widely across Food & Beverage Magazine and other outlets.
As a Food & Beverage Magazine contributor, she keeps her finger on the pulse of the marketplace in search of new and innovative must-haves and exemplary experiences at all price points, from the affordable to the extreme, with a particular focus on food, beverage, travel, hospitality and luxury lifestyle trends. Her work reaches multi-millions worldwide via broadcast TV (her own shows and others on which she appears) as well as a myriad of print and online publications. Connect with her at www.TheLuxeList.com / Instagram www.Instagram.com/MerileeKern / X www.X.com/MerileeKern / Facebook www.Facebook.com/MerileeKernOfficial / LinkedIN www.LinkedIn.com/in/MerileeKern.
***Some or all of the accommodations(s), experience(s), item(s) and/or service(s) detailed above may have been provided or arranged at no cost to accommodate if this is review editorial, but all opinions expressed are entirely those of Merilee Kern and have not been influenced in any way.***
