More Than 50,000 Come Out To Eat. Drink. End Hunger. At The 2012 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented By FOOD & WINE

- 2012 Festival Raises More Than $1 Million Benefiting Food Bank For New York City & Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry^® Campaign -

NEW YORK, Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2012 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE celebrated its fifth anniversary October 11 – 14, and drew more than 50,000 attendees who came out for a weekend of tastings, seminars, dinners, and parties to help Eat. Drink. End Hunger.  To date the Festival has raised more than $6 million to benefit the hunger-relief organizations Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry^® campaign. 

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"Children around the nation are struggling with hunger this holiday season. We are so grateful for the thousands of people who supported our work by attending this year's festival," said Share Our Strength founder and CEO Billy Shore. "The funds raised will bring us closer to our ultimate goal of making sure all children in this nation get the healthy food they need, every day. This holiday season, the No Kid Hungry campaign will also use these funds to help the many families recently affected by Hurricane Sandy as we direct additional resources to local organizations providing food and comfort to those in need."

"Nearly three million New Yorkers will struggle to put food on the table this holiday season. We feel very fortunate to have a vibrant culinary community that continues to take a stand against hunger by supporting the Festival," said Food Bank For New York City President and CEO Margarette Purvis. "Since Hurricane Sandy hit our shores, thousands more New Yorkers are now finding themselves vulnerable for the first time in their lives, creating new need in communities devastated by the storm.  These funds will help us provide additional food and critical services to all of our New York families this holiday season."

The Festival's official anniversary celebration took place on Friday, October 12 at GODIVA presents SWEET! Celebrating Five Years of NYCWFF sponsored by ZED Moscato Rose hosted by Sandra Lee at 82 Mercer in SoHo. Chef Elizabeth Karmel from Hill Country Barbecue Market took home the GODIVA SWEETest Award for her PB&J Cupcakes with GODIVA Pearls. Special guests in attendance included: Sunny Anderson, Ted Allen, Anne Burrell, Gabriele Corcos, Elizabeth Faulkner, Bobby Flay, Amanda Freitag, Kathy Griffin, Eden Grinshpan, Alex Guarnaschelli, Jackie Hoffman, Chuck Hughes, Robert Irvine, Alex Karpovsky, Robyn Lawley, Jeff Mauro, Debi Mazar, Audra McDonald, Gina & Patrick Neely, Marcus Samuelsson, and Geoffrey Zakarian.

Another highlight of the weekend was Bank of America presents: "On The Chopping Block: A Roast of Anthony Bourdain" hosted by Mario Batali & Willie Geist and produced by Carolines on Broadway at Pier Sixty.  Acclaimed Chef Michael White prepared a decadent four-course dinner, while Ted Allen, Guy Fieri, Artie Lange, Bonnie McFarlane, Jim Norton, Rachael Ray, Eric Ripert, Ali Velshi, and a special video appearance from Sarah Silverman gave Bourdain a taste of his own antics that he won't soon forget.

Basketball City (Pier 36) in Manhattan was home to the Festival's family-friendly program Fun and Fit in the City presented by Target hosted by Guy Fieri, where kids of all ages had the chance to participate in physical fitness activities, enjoy healthy food samplings and see culinary demonstrations from their favorite celebrity chefs.  Fieri invited his close friend (and Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off co-host) Rachael Ray to join him for an ultimate culinary showdown, where Ray and her team from West Babylon, N.Y. in Long Island took top honors for their spicy taco chili on a bed of sweet potato with cheddar recipe.

Guests at Whole Foods Market presents Shake & Bake with Whoopi Goldberg, Art Smith and guest DJ Questlove sampled a variety of fried chicken recipes offered up by more than 20 chefs at Yotel.  A stand-out dish was the fried chicken and waffle cone from Chef Joaquin Baca of The Brooklyn Star, which was stuffed with mashed potatoes, shredded cabbage and topped with heavenly burnt onion chow chow and black pepper honey.

As part of a new partnership, attendees also enjoyed a vast selection of unique dinner experiences, master classes and Pairing Seminars hosted by FOOD & WINE at The International Culinary Center.  Guests also participated in more dinners at City Grit and the Bank of America Tower, as well as one-of-a-kind Wine Seminars hosted by FOOD & WINE throughout the weekend.  More featured panels, tastings, classes, brunches, and parties made up the entire series of events that were part of Local presented by The Corcoran Group, which took place at various locations throughout the Meatpacking District.

The Festival's signature event at Hudson River Park's Pier 57, the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite with KitchenAid Culinary Demonstrations presented by MasterCard, included a special KitchenAid Tent Talk with Ina Garten moderated by Maile Carpenter, plus culinary demonstrations from everyone's favorite celebrity chefs and culinary personalities.

These are just a few of the highlights that happened at over 120 events that took place throughout the four-day Festival weekend!  Eat. Drink. End Hunger.  Save the date: next year's Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival takes place October 17 – 20, 2013.  Stay up to date with the excitement by following the Festival at www.Facebook.com/NYCWFF or follow founder and director Lee Brian Schrager at www.twitter.com/Lee_Schrager. 

About the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE

The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival is hosted by and benefits the Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry^® campaign, 100% of the Festival's net proceeds go toward helping these community based organizations fight hunger.  Southern Wine & Spirits of New York is the exclusive provider of wine and spirits at the Festival.  More information about the Festival can be found at www.nycwff.org.   

About the Food Bank For New York City

Three million New Yorkers have difficulty affording food.  The Food Bank For New York City is there with a solution.  The Food Bank helps by offering a meal today, resources for a more secure tomorrow and nutrition education to help them lead healthy lifestyles.  Food Bank For New York City is the only hunger-relief organization to take this integrated approach.  The Food Bank tackles the issues of hunger on three fronts: food distribution, through soup kitchens and food pantries; income support, by connecting those in need to benefits available to them, such as food stamps and earned income tax credits; and nutrition education, helping individuals and families make healthful food choices on limited budgets.  Get more information at foodbanknyc.org.

About SHARE OUR STRENGTH'S NO KID HUNGRY CAMPAIGN

No child should grow up hungry in America, but one in five children struggles with hunger. Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry^® campaign is ending childhood hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day. The No Kid Hungry campaign connects kids in need to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals and teaches low-income families to cook healthy, affordable meals through its Cooking Matters program.  This work is accomplished through the No Kid Hungry network, made up of private citizens, public officials, nonprofits, business leaders and others providing innovative hunger solutions in their communities. Join us at NoKidHungry.org.

SOURCE 2012 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival