Wine and food are simple, but powerful, pleasures and Kathleen Rake is thrilled to explore them both with audiences this year on the Grapes and Hops Stage at the newly named Fraser Valley Food Show Sept. 14-16 at Tradex.
Rake’s passion shines through every time she pours wine into a glass, and the Mission-based wine columnist, blogger and perpetual student of wine headlines the wine segments of the show for a third consecutive year.
“We’re doing things a little bit differently by tasting wines alongside some delicious cheese or sausage at many of my eight presentations,” said Rake who is among a lineup of presenters, including Real Housewives of Vancouver star Reiko MacKenzie, Spice Goddess Bal Arneson and executive chefs from Granville Island, Penticton and Kamloops.
“I get excited when the conversation turns to anything remotely concerning wine and frequently suffer the raised-eyebrow stares of other guests around a dinner table as I swiftly and surely deliver myself to cork-dorkdom,” says Rake, who blogs at www.betweenthvines.ca.
“Pairing food with wine in a seminar setting really helps people understand some of the wine-tasting concepts often referred to as rules. The more I learn, the more my audiences learn, and then I learn some more. It just never ends,” she said.
Popular local restaurants, wineries, food and beverage manufacturers, cookbook authors, retailers, artisans, and many others from the culinary world will be featured at the food extravaganza formerly known as Eat! Fraser Valley.
• For more information on the show, visit fraservalleyfoodshow.com.