The second annual Red and White Wine and Food Festival sponsored by the Bakersfield College Foundation in conjunction with the Culinary Arts program was held April 17, and, according to organizers, it surpassed the success of last year’s event.
The Festival is a scholarship fund raising for the culinary arts program.
Mike Stepanovich, executive director of BC Foundation, estimated an attendance of a couple of hundred more people compared to last year.
Stepanovich mentioned that 63 wineries from California exhibited their products to the Bakersfield community.
He explained that these types of events help people associate BC with a good time, which translates in more funds for BC programs.
“It is important to keep BC in the community radar,” said Stepanovich, “We want to raise funds, but we also want to raise friends.”
Carlos Barbaran from the custodial department of Maintenance and Operations, attended the festival with his wife.
“It is fantastic, the food, the wine and delightful music,” said Barbaran. “I hope this event will expand and reach the community.”
Barbaran mentioned that his mother was from Spain, and she used to serve all their meals accompanied with wine, and that is how he developed his gusto for wine.
But it was not just the wine that delighted the people at the festival; the food also had an ample variety.
Around 90 culinary arts students, advised by Chef Patrick Coyle, participated in the preparation of the food two days before and the morning of the event.
According to Chef Suzanne Davis, who has been teaching the restaurant class for four years at BC, 14 different kinds of food were served including desserts by Chef Ray Ingram who teaches pastries at BC.
Davis said that people can taste wine and food and see by themselves what combines better. She congratulated the students who put great effort to make possible the success of the food.
“It’s so much fun,” said Susan Schneider, culinary arts student, who is currently in her second semester at BC. She didn’t mind the hard work at all.
But not all of the people at the festival were out there just enjoying a great spring afternoon with great wine, wonderful food and live music.
Geology professor Natalie Bursztyn was also doing some research for a proposed class to the Levan Institute for Lifelong Learning.
“The wine and geology class, titled Tasting the Terroir, will focus on the concept of terroir here in Central California,” Bursztyn said.
“The concept of terroir is the soil the grapes are grown in, the climate, the setup of the vineyard, but fundamentally, the soil is driven by the bedrock it is derived from, and that is geology,” she said, explaining the relationship between wine and geology.
“I hope this successful, entertaining, delicious, enlightening, social opportunity remains an integral part of BC’s spring program,” said Bursztyn about the event.
According to Stepanovich, the festival is already scheduled for April 16 of next year.