ASHEVILLE - In less than a month, a new, grassroots food culture festival series will take over venues across the city.
Bite Me debuts Aug. 14-18 with events and activities planned at restaurants, bars, community hubs, local businesses and more.
The five-day event schedule ranges from a family-friendly community cookout in a neighborhood park to one-of-a-kind ticketed, adult-only dining experiences.
Jefferson Ellison, Bite Me founder and the owner of JD Ellison & Company communications agency, said the inaugural festival’s “choose your own journey” festival model offers panel discussions, cooking classes and tastings with revered local and national culinary and beverage professionals, dance parties and more.
Ellison said the festival is meant to be accessible and inclusive no matter the schedule or budget. More options increase attendees' chances of finding things they want to do.
“We had a lot of people say they just wanted to come to the cooking competition and didn’t want to buy the Friday day pass. … So, we created a different ticket so you can pay $35 and just go to the cooking competition," he said.
Bite Me's event planning committee members are Ellison, Jennifer Rodriguez (Asheville Guide), Sarah Fiori (Asheville Crafted Edge) and Melinda Hanley (pastry chef).
Bite Me festival tickets
Tickets for Bite Me are $149 at bitemeavl.com . Individual day passes are available.
Ellison recommends the weeklong festival pass instead of individual day passes to cash in on savings and buy tickets early as the events are expected to sell out.
“If you don’t know what you want to go to, then buy the festival pass that way you can go to whatever you want,” Ellison said.
The tickets include access to the events listed on the main schedule, including the opening dinner hosted by local favorite Not Another Supper Club at Cultura.
The closing Sunday Brunch will be hosted by national, award-winning food historian Adrian Miller who will sit down with Danielle and Gabrielle Davenport, owners of Books & More (BEM), a New York bookstore promoting Black foodways cookbooks and literature, at “The Hidden Stories in a Recipe” on Aug. 18.
“The more we talked to people the more we wanted to make some of the meals a part of the ticket,” Ellison said.
Festival pass holders must reserve the dining events online.
Additional dining and keynote speaker experiences vary in cost, like the five-course dinner with Chefs Josiah McGaughey and Cleophus Hethington, Jr. at Vivian ($120) and the farm-to-table dinner with Chef Taylor Montgomery, of Montgomery Sky Farms, at 5 Points Restaurant ($75).
View the special events page at bitemeavl.com/dinners .
Bite Me schedule highlights
On Aug. 14, the festival will kick off with “The Hot Seat,” a “Lunch and Learn”-style chat session with local entrepreneur Neomi Negron of Buggy Pops, Jen Hampton of the Food and Beverage Union, Explore Asheville and elected officials.
On Aug. 15, community members will discuss diversity and entrepreneurship at the Business in Color Breakfast, presented by Eagle Market Streets.
Chop Shop Butchery will lead a demonstration and Eda Rhyne Distilling Company will host a tasting on the same day. Asheville Crafted Edge will host an immersive knife-making experience on Aug. 14.
Ellison said two events he’s excited for the first-time conversations between industry trailblazers, like between Connie Matisse and writer and co-founder of East Fork Pottery, and David Gate, a poet, writer and visual artist, at “The Power of Words to Feed the Soul” at 6 p.m. on Aug. 14.
James Beard Award-winning culinary authors Hawa Hassan and Cynthia Greenlee will share their knowledge with the audience at the YMI Cultural Center in the historically Black neighborhood downtown, The Block.
On Aug. 16, in a cooking competition in partnership with the Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College’s culinary department, local chefs Nick Abbott, Ryan Kline, Rakim Gaines and Suji May will compete for a $1,000 cash prize.
On Saturday morning (Aug. 17), festivalgoers may stop by the Community Market for panel discussions, live music and tastings and shop at 20 vendor booths.
The 21 and up parties include the Wine Down (Aug. 15), Friday Rave (Aug. 16) and Double Crown After Party (Aug. 17).
Bite Me will conclude with “The Big Ass Cook Out,” an outdoor communitywide party with food and drinks and featuring music by DJ Mad Mike and DJ Savvy G.
“If the community wants different things to keep happening the community has to support it,” Ellison said. “People have to show up ― but if they don’t, we’re still going to have a good time.”
Bite Me
Where: Various locations, Asheville.
When: Aug. 14-18.
Info: View the schedule and purchase tickets for Bite Me at bitemeavl.com . For more, follow on Instagram @bitemeavl .
Stories you may have missed:
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times .
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Bite Me food culture festival schedule announced with chef dinners, chats, demos, more
Most Popular
Comments / 0