How This Year’s New York City Wine & Food Festival Transformed Into a Virtual Cooking School

Scott Conant demonstrated how to make rigatoni with sausage, goat cheese, baby tomatoes, and spinach during a virtual class.Photo: Getty Images/Getty Images for NYCWFFNEW YORK—The Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One returned for its 13th annual edition from Oct. 2-11. But, as to be expected, this year’s festival contained the finger-licking fun to attendees’ homes. Instead of hosting large in-person events with on-site cooking demonstrations and plenty of sampling, the 10-day festival went mostly virtual, with more than 60 events including a sprinkling of intimate dinners.

“I think the biggest challenge with going virtual was restructuring our programming. We’re used to creating on-site events for thousands of people, and this year we had to completely pivot our model and create a program that was mostly digital,” explained the festival’s founder and director Lee Brian Schrager.

“We had to really dive deep during our brainstorms and ask ourselves, ‘How could we offer a product that is valuable to the consumer, our sponsors, wine and spirit suppliers, and talent, and aid our efforts in raising funds for our benefiting charities No Kid Hungry and Food Bank For New York City?’” (One hundred percent of net proceeds from the festival supports No Kid Hungry and Food Bank For New York City.)

The festival’s virtual programming—NYCWFF Goes Virtual presented by Capital One—included interactive cooking and mixology classes, hosted through Zoom, with chefs, bartenders, and food personalities. The classes also featured Q&A sessions after each demonstration.

“We quickly realized that our strengths lie in connecting fans to the best chefs and spirits in the world, and luckily for us the virtual space allowed for just that in a way that feels authentic and intimate,” Schrager said. “There aren’t many times when you get to join the likes of Martha Stewart or Scott Conant for a cooking class right in their personal kitchens and your own.”

During "Goldbelly presents Cook from the Book with Martha Stewart," attendees learned how to decorate Stewart's berry layer cake from her new cookbook, Martha Stewart’s Cake Perfection.Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe digital offerings were broken down into two main categories: In the Kitchen presented by Food Network was a digital version of the festival’s signature culinary demonstrations led by personalities including Giada De Laurentiis, Molly Yeh, Rocco DiSpirito, Michael Symon, and others.

And a new series, Cook from The Book, that featured experiences with Jacques Pépin, Yotam Ottolenghi, Marcus Samuelsson, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Vetri, Hugh Acheson, and more. Attendees received the latest cookbook by that session's host from R.J., Julia Booksellers, an independent bookstore in New York.

As part of the ticket price, virtual attendees of the "Johnnie Walker presents Behind the Burger Bash hosted by Rachael Ray" received a Pat LaFrieda Burger Bash Box with artisanal burger patties, Martin’s potato rolls, Cabot cheese, Gardein plant-based burgers, Heinz ketchup, and more.Photo: Michele Laufik/BizBashA fest fave, Burger Bash also went virtual with a competition via Zoom, called "Johnnie Walker presents Behind the Burger Bash hosted by Rachael Ray" that featured four previous Burger Bash winners and competitors. Viewers got a behind-the-scenes peek at how the judges choose a winner, plus ticket holders also received a Pat LaFrieda Burger Bash Box with all the fixings including burger patties, Martin’s potato rolls, and Cabot cheese for building a burger at home.

Plus, Capital One cardholders were able to purchase tickets to an exclusive event, "Beyond Takeout presented by Capital One," with Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons. The two hosts walked attendees through the making of a butternut squash ravioli dish. The experience also included a culinary kit with ingredients to create the recipe at home. And Capital One cardholders who used their card to purchase a ticket to any of the virtual events received access to a cooking class with Andrew Zimmern.

NYCWFF did not provide on-site technical support to the presenting chefs, but most of the talent were seasoned television pros who were able to lean on their individual teams for setup help, Schrager said, adding, “At this point, who isn’t a Zoom expert?!”

He explained that the festival team had also gained experience by hosting the "NYCWFF at Home brought to you by Bank of America" series, which launched back in May to raise money for hospitality employee relief efforts. “Since it launched, we’ve held over 50 classes, so we felt good about executing a mostly virtual festival,” Schrager said.

Of course, like any Zoom call, the virtual events contained a few comical tech hiccups, like when Food Network host Molly Yeh experienced some Wi-Fi trouble from her farm on the Minnesota/North Dakota border as she was demoing how to make her butternut, bacon, and apple hotdish recipe.

During the virtual events, a designated moderator helped facilitate the cooking classes, relaying questions from the at-home attendees and offering a digital hand with any connection snafus. Before the event, attendees also received a detailed email with Zoom instructions and prep information including the recipe.

Although virtual events comprised the bulk of the festival’s programming, organizers did carry over the in-person Intimate Dinner Series, which featured roughly 30 dinners at restaurants throughout the city such as Daniel, Prune, and Charlie Bird. Each limited-seating dinner included a tasting menu that highlighted the chefs’ signature dishes paired with a variety of wines and spirits, with tickets ranging in price from $150 to $500 per person.

As for COVID-19 safety measures, Schrager said that his team “worked very closely with city and state personnel as well as the restaurants to ensure all CDC guidelines were being followed.” This included requiring staff to wear masks, as well as guests (except while sitting at their tables); frequent cleaning of surfaces; and spaced-out tables. Plus, he explained that almost all of the seats were for outdoor dining, and each dinner allowed for a maximum of 10 guests in various party sizes.

He added that “early on in planning, we had hoped to be able to have some additional live events but ultimately the safety of our participants and guests was our number-one priority and we felt the focus should remain on executing quality programming for our virtual series and live dinners.”

See more from The Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival's virtual classes.