This year the South Beach Wine and Food Festival added a new event to its lineup: Fun and Fit as a Family, presented by South Beach Diet and Travel + Leisure Family. The event, held at Jungle Island, was conceived out of a conversation between festival founder Lee Schrager and superstar chef Jamie Oliver, when Oliver was being asked to join the festival's participating chefs in Miami. Oliver wanted to do something to focus on the problem of childhood obesity-the end result was these two days of activities and education, with the goal of raising awareness and providing parents and kids with useful advice and the motivation to address this growing epidemic.
"We planned on making it a small event, and it kind of exploded," said event planner Ashley Shapiro.
Shapiro, along with Alex Saludes (who assisted with production and logistics before and during the event) and Karen Leiderman, worked tirelessly to recruit food vendors and schools to participate in the inaugural event.
"We undertook a grassroots effort to engage schools and get them to come out," Shapiro said.Taking into account the number of children who would be in attendance-and their short attention spans-the team used the expansive Jungle Island landscape to create an interactive game where youngsters had to collect bracelets at various destinations: Garden, Food, Fitness, Discovery, and Fun.
"When you are working with kids, having it expo-style just isn't going to work." Shapiro said.
In another part of the property, cooking exhibitions were held at the Destination Fun area. Rachael Ray demonstrated how to make banana pseudo-sushi and a healthy version of a ham and mustard wrap-two smart alternatives for after-school snacks. Later, Oliver engaged and involved the crowd by creating "the world's longest tagliatelle"-the top layer of pasta for lasagna-which took seven kids to hold up. Chef Allen Susser went through a barrage of healthy meal options and was joined midway through by Subway mascot Jared Fogle. Art Smith rounded out the culinary talent by feeding the audience with his own tips and recipes for healthy eating.
At Destination Discover, cooking demonstrations were held on a more intimate scale, focusing on proper eating habits for the different food groups, as in the Delicious Dairy segment, where celebrity chef Domenica Catelli showed attendees how to make a healthy macaroni and cheese with edamame.
The overarching message of the event was simple: Eating right, exercising, and spending time as a family-like in the kitchen-is healthy on more levels than one.
"This has to be on everyone's mind; this is our future," said Susser. It's a message he hopes the more than 9,350 people who attended over the two days understood.
"We planned on making it a small event, and it kind of exploded," said event planner Ashley Shapiro.
Shapiro, along with Alex Saludes (who assisted with production and logistics before and during the event) and Karen Leiderman, worked tirelessly to recruit food vendors and schools to participate in the inaugural event.
"We undertook a grassroots effort to engage schools and get them to come out," Shapiro said.Taking into account the number of children who would be in attendance-and their short attention spans-the team used the expansive Jungle Island landscape to create an interactive game where youngsters had to collect bracelets at various destinations: Garden, Food, Fitness, Discovery, and Fun.
"When you are working with kids, having it expo-style just isn't going to work." Shapiro said.
In another part of the property, cooking exhibitions were held at the Destination Fun area. Rachael Ray demonstrated how to make banana pseudo-sushi and a healthy version of a ham and mustard wrap-two smart alternatives for after-school snacks. Later, Oliver engaged and involved the crowd by creating "the world's longest tagliatelle"-the top layer of pasta for lasagna-which took seven kids to hold up. Chef Allen Susser went through a barrage of healthy meal options and was joined midway through by Subway mascot Jared Fogle. Art Smith rounded out the culinary talent by feeding the audience with his own tips and recipes for healthy eating.
At Destination Discover, cooking demonstrations were held on a more intimate scale, focusing on proper eating habits for the different food groups, as in the Delicious Dairy segment, where celebrity chef Domenica Catelli showed attendees how to make a healthy macaroni and cheese with edamame.
The overarching message of the event was simple: Eating right, exercising, and spending time as a family-like in the kitchen-is healthy on more levels than one.
"This has to be on everyone's mind; this is our future," said Susser. It's a message he hopes the more than 9,350 people who attended over the two days understood.
A pink Mini Cooper, complete with airplane wings, courtesy of Delta Airlines, was parked outside the entrance to Jungle Island.
BizBash
Rachael Ray demonstrated how to make healthy after-school snacks with the help from kids in the audience.
BizBash
Subway's Jared Fogle assisted chef Allen Susser in his healthy cooking demonstration.
BizBash
A pink Mini Cooper, complete with airplane wings, courtesy of Delta Airlines, was parked outside the entrance to Jungle Island.
BizBash
At Destination Fitness, kids had a chance to have a little fun and burn off a few calories.
BizBash
Jamie Oliver engaged and involved the crowd by creating "the world's longest tagliatelle"-the top layer of pasta for lasagna-which took seven kids to hold up.
BizBash
Destination Discover featured a variety of sessions, including Delicious Dairy, Very Good Veggies, and Protein Punch.
BizBash
