SOBE Wine And Food Festival 2019: Giada, Meatballs And The Beach

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Giada De Laurentiis, meatballs and the beach. The effervescent celebrity chef kicked off the 18th Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival Thursday night with a massive Italian beach party featuring chefs from some of America's favorite Italian bistros and enough pasta to get your ciao on

The festival continues through the weekend with celebrities like Martha Stewart, Neil Patrick Harris, Richard Irvine and Emeril Lagasse.

Organizers say the event has raised more than $28 million for the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University and serves as an interactive educational platform for more than 1,200 students who help pull off the festival each year.

The Emmy Award-winning De Laurentiis shared a dose of la bella vita on the beach alongside more than 30 of the nation’s top chefs serving up dishes originating from various regions of Italy. She personally greeted hundreds of attendees and handed out samples from her own kitchen.

Attendees sampled dishes from Piedmont, Tuscany, Sardinia, Campania, Sicily and even less exotic South Philadelphia along with wine and refreshing libations from the Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits product line. Some of the offerings included meatball martinis, rigatoni in a white bolognese sauce, wagyu beef meatballs and lemon basil cheesecake.

The festival continues on Friday with the Heineken Light Burger Bash presented by Schweid & Sons hosted by David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris.

Guy Fieri takes center stage on Saturday with his Beachside BBQ featuring special musical performances by Cassadee Pope and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.

BACARDÍ’s Beach Carnival hosted by Andrew Zimmern closes out the festival on Sunday.

Highlights of the 2019 festival include:

• Bites & Beats on the River hosted by Adam Richman
• Wine & Cheese Happy Hour hosted by Martha Stewart
• Taste Jamaica hosted by Cindy Hutson & Delius Shirley
• Mangia After Dark hosted by Marc Murphy
• Rosé Pool Party hosted by Geoffrey Zakarian
• Sunset Stone Crab hosted by Emeril Lagasse
• Plus new Master Class experiences covering a variety of carefully-curated topics.

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