Austin is a foodie’s paradise. The city’s vibrant culinary community is fueled by talented chefs, a giving and enthusiastic community, good festival weather, and a love of events. Culinary events fill foodies’ social calendars year-round in addition to restaurant openings and are a great way to meet chefs and try new restaurants. Many are “sip and stroll,” which includes trying samples at each participating restaurant’s booth.

I’ve gathered the 11 best food events to help you explore Austin’s culinary scene. Please check websites for the most updated information.

Austin Food and Wine Festival

• Details: Three-day celebration of food, wine and spirits, featuring Texas’ most celebrated chefs and restaurateurs. Think mingling with chefs, seeing demos and indulging in tasting sessions.
• Date: November
• Proceeds Benefit: Texas Food and Wine Alliance
• See my experience here

CultureMap Tastemaker Awards

• Details: This tasting event honors local restaurants with an awards ceremony. Find out who wins awards such as Restaurant and Chef of the Year
• Date: May
• Proceeds Benefit: Central Texas Food Bank

Farm to Plate

• Details: More than 25 Austin chefs and restaurants sharing delicious bites at a beautiful venue.
• Date: May
• Proceeds Benefit: Sustainable Food Center

Field Guide Festival

• Details: 3-day event focused on local chefs and farmers
• Date: April
• Proceeds Benefit: Central Texas Food Bank
• See my experience here

Food for Thought

• Details: A handful of Austin’s chefs serving samples while celebrating Communities in Schools of Central Texas
• Date: October
• Proceeds Benefit: Communities in Schools of Central Texas

Hot Luck Festival

• Details: Created by Aaron Franklin, this festival features four days of tastings and music in several venues around Austin
• Date: May
• Proceeds Benefit: Southern Smoke Foundation

Texas Craft Brewers Festival

• Details: Texas’ largest celebration of small and independent Texas craft breweries. Try beers (200+ options) by breweries from all over Texas
• Date: November
• Proceeds Benefit: Texas Craft Brewers Guild
• See my experience here

Texas Monthly BBQ Festival

• Details: Taste top Texas BBQ joints on Texas Monthly’s annual list
• Date: November
• Proceeds Benefit: Texas Monthly
• See my experience here

Toast of Texas

• Details: This event gives guests the opportunity to try different wine styles, varieties and regions
• Date: June
• Proceeds Benefit: The Wine and Food Foundation of Texas Scholarships

Pay It Forward with Daniel Curtis

• Details: Event includes bites from Austin’s top chefs, live music, and a silent auction.
• Date: November
• Proceeds Benefit: Lone Star Paralysis Foundation

Umlauf Garden Party

• Details: Stroll through the beautiful garden while enjoying bites and drinks from local restaurants
• Date: April
• Proceeds Benefit: Umlauf Sculpture Garden

What’s your favorite food event in Austin?

P.S. Need more food ideas? Check out these posts:

• The Ultimate Austin Foodie Bucket List
• Best Food and Cooking Classes in Austin
• 8 Best Foodie Experiences in Japan

The post Best Food Events in Austin, Texas appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

I do love barbecue but this festival has always been daunting to me! With 30 barbecue joints from all over Texas, it’s a lot of meat to try, not to mention all the sides and dessert they also bring. When we arrived, the smell of barbecue was overwhelmingly delicious. Our strategy was to visit restaurants outside of Austin because we have easier access to Austin barbecue. We ended up trying 10 of the 30 bbq joints!

Here are all the barbecue places that represented this year:

• 2M Smokehouse
• Baker Boys BBQ
• BBQ on the Brazos
• Bodacious Bar-B-Q Mobberly
• Blood Bros. BBQ
• Cattleack Barbeque
• Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
• Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue
• The Granary ’Cue & Brew
• Guess Family Barbecue
• Hays Co. Bar-B-Que
• Heim Barbecue
• Hutchins BBQ
• Killen’s Barbecue
• la Barbecue
• Lockhart Smokehouse
• Louie Mueller Barbecue
• Micklethwait Craft Meats
• Miller’s Smokehouse
• Pinkerton’s Barbecue
• PODY’s BBQ
• Roegels Barbecue Co.
• Smolik’s Smokehouse
• Snow’s BBQ
• Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew
• Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue
• Terry Black’s Barbecue
• Truth BBQ
• Tyler’s Barbeque
• Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ

My favorite stop was Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue from Tomball. They knew what they were doing because their plate included two slices of meat and two desserts – pork belly, chile relleño sausage, carrot souffle, and spiced chai panna cotta.

Killen’s Barbecue of Pearland served crispy good fried chicken!

I also loved Cattleack Barbeque (of Farmers Branch)’s pastrami burnt ends.

TMBBQFest Tips

Will and I were very unprepared for this festival! It was our first time and we went in with no expectations. We simply wanted to eat some good barbecue and enjoy the day. After up and down weather in Texas in the last two weeks, the weather turned out perfect for this event! We were pleasantly full when we left about an hour and a half later.

However, being the planner that I am, these are the tips I recommend if you go!

1. Wear sunglasses and a hat.

It was a beautiful day but also very sunny! These were must-haves to be comfortable.

2. Get there early.

The lines start as you’re trying to park your car. Since the event is on a Sunday, you could grab a street spot downtown for free and walk across the bridge. The closest parking is at the Palmer Events Center for $8, but get there early as it can take at least 20 minutes to get in. There are also long lines to get into the festival at 1 pm, so if you want to try a specific restaurant, get there early! By 2:30 pm, some restaurants had already run out of bbq, so be early to get the best bites.

3. Splurge for VIP tickets.

One way to avoid the lines is to buy a VIP ticket. This allows you to get into the festival at noon, one hour earlier than general admission. Some restaurants have special items on the menu specifically for VIP hour. General admission tickets were $80 and VIP was $165 and included extra perks like two drink tickets.

4. Split your dishes.

You can get full very easily after visiting a few booths, so to try more restaurants, split the plate with a friend. You’ll save stomach space and help cut down on food waste.

5. Pick your top three must-tries.

If we had prepared more, I would have known exactly which booths to wait in line for instead of meandering. If your goal is to try a specific restaurant’s barbecue or to try the top barbecue joints, know exactly where you’re going and get in line. The barbecue runs out and lines get long! Grab a map at the entrance.

6. Hydrate!

The fest has several water coolers throughout the grounds, so bring a reusable water bottle. The weather can get warm and you’ll be consuming a lot of seasoned meat, so water is necessary!

7. Chill out.

Even the biggest bbq aficionados will agree that after getting your fill of the best barbecue, it’s great to just chill out. Take a seat on the lawn and enjoy live music.

Whether you spell it bbq, barbecue, or barbeque, people who love barbecue will have a fun time at this annual festival.

Have you ever been or what kind of food festival would you want to attend?

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The post Why Every Barbecue Lover Needs to Go to Texas Monthly BBQ Fest appeared first on Fearless Captivations.