Flavor and culture at BayHaven Food and Wine Festival

BAYHAVEN FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL

The fourth annual BayHaven Food and Wine Festival on Oct. 4-8 at Savona Mill is the first to be held under a tent.

The BayHaven Food and Wine Festival is celebrating the Black culinary experience under a big top.

The fourth annual showcase Oct. 4-8 at Savona Mill, 500 S Turner Ave., will be held under a tent for the first time to combine the feel of an open-air event with overhead protection. The celebration honors the African Diaspora and chefs who elevate those foodways on a platform of education and community.

For ticket information, go to bayhavenfoodandwine.com/events.

“This year we made it more personal, because it’s been a really hard year for everybody,” said Subrina Collier, co-founder of the festival with her husband Greg, a James Beard Award finalist as one of the nation’s top chefs. “As opposed to making things go in different locations, we liked outside because it gives [the festival] air. We wanted … everything consolidated under a tent like a real festival.”
By bringing chefs, food professionals, and food lovers together, the festival showcases Black culinary excellence and its cultural significance. From soul food to modern creations, the showcase celebrates generations of food culture.

“Our goal is simple—we want the culinary world to reflect the incredible diversity that makes our community so rich,” Greg Collier said. “This festival is all about celebrating Black culinary traditions and giving a shout-out to the amazing people redefining the future of food.”

Among the guest chefs are:

• Jerome Grant, former executive chef at the Smithsonian’s Sweet Home Café who incorporates Black American history into dishes

• Adrian Lipscombe, founder of the 40 Acres & a Mule Project, which focuses on preserving Black foodways and promoting food equity.

• Ricky Moore, a James Beard Award winner and owner of the North Carolina seafood restaurant, Saltbox Seafood Joint

• Two-time Beard semifinalist Todd Richards, owner of Atlanta-based Richards’ Southern Fried and author of the cookbook “Soul.”

• “Top Chef” finalist Chris Scott, owner of Butterfunk Biscuit Co.

“These people are [what] we call our vets, because they come every year and support us,” Subrina Collier said. “It isn’t like these people are twiddling their thumbs. They have stuff to do. They have restaurants to run and businesses to run, and they’re taking time away to come support what you’re doing, not getting a whole lot of money – to me, that’s community. I think that’s something that we’ve built over the past four years with a lot of the chefs – support and community.”

The festival will include education to shed light on the history, contributions, and impact of Black food traditions. Panel discussions, cooking demonstrations, and interactive sessions with chefs and food industry experts are part of the mission to help people from all cultures understand Black traditions.

“For us, [we’re] going to always be diligent about doing that and unapologetic about it, because some people still have an issue with it,” Subrina Collier said. “A lot of people celebrate it, but you have some people that are just ignorant about it, and so I think over time, they've got educated on certain food ways and it’s not just this pile of, ‘Oh, everybody does the same collard greens,’ and ‘everybody does the same thing with a sweet potato’ or a sweet potato and a yam are two different things, things like that.

“I think it’s important, because we’re not only educating the people that don’t know the ignorant folks. We’re also educating ourselves.”

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