This Alabama food fest was voted one of the best new festivals in the country

Birmingham’s FOOD+ Culture festival is one of the best new festivals to attend in the United States, according to voters in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice awards.

Birmingham hosted the inaugural FOOD + Culture festival in 2023.

The four-day fall food festival and dinner series, which ran from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15, wasdesigned to showcase culinary talent in Birmingham and throughout the South. The series of events centered around Birmingham’s Pepper Place commercial district and the historic Sloss Furnaces landmark. The festivities included: an opening lunch honoring women in the culinary scene, hosted by James Beard award-winning author Toni Tipton Martin, the launch of the Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence and a family style dinner celebrating Black chefs.

During the festival, the Market at Pepper Place a special edition of its award-winning farmers market with chef demonstrations and “Inked and Echoed” a series of booking singings and poetry readings in partnership with the Alabama Humanities Alliance. (Salaam Green, who led the “Inked and Echoed” discussion panels, would later be announced as the city of Birmingham’s inaugural poet laureate.)

The festival concluded with a massive Saturday tailgate and BBQ festival at Sloss Furnaces, and a Sunday brunch featuring pastry chefs, bakers, and mixologists from around the South.

(from left) Lisa McNair, Kimberly McNair-Brock, and and Salaam Green speak in the garden at OvenBird during “Inked and Echoed” a series of panel discussions during the Birmingham FOOD+ Culture festival. (Shauna Stuart| AL.com)Shauna Stuart

Ribs from Dreamland at FOOD+Fire — Ribs from Dreamland Dreamland Bar-B-Que at the FOOD+ Fire event at Sloss Furnaces. The event was part of the inaugural FOOD+ Culture festival in Birmingham. (Shauna Stuart| AL.com)Shauna Stuart

In USA Today’s 10Best list, the FOOD+ Culture festival ranks at number 3, behind the HWY30 Music Fest in Texas and New York’s Troy Art Block.

[Read the full list here]

Here’s what USA TODAY’s 10Best had to say about Birmingham’s FOOD+ Culture Festival:

“Birmingham brought the heat with their inaugural food and culture festival, spanning four full days of culinary happenings with local talent. With luncheons and seated dinners, an extended farmers’ market, and tasting events, the event delivered on its promise of showcasing Birmingham’s cultural vibrancy in the culinary landscape.”

In a post-festival report released last November, organizers of the FOOD+ Culture festival said the event hosted visitors from 18 states and featured 72 participating chefs and 15 mixologists and sommeliers.

The leaders of Sloss Real Estate and Pepper Place had a vision to host a large format, multi-day festival spotlighting Birmingham’s culinary and cultural scene for more than a decade.

But a major catalyst for the development of the idea came in 2021 when Birmingham hosted the 43rd annual International Association of Culinary Professionals conference. For three days, food writers, chefs, and more culinary professionals gathered in the city for lighting talks, workshops, and demonstrations at Sloss Furnaces and Pepper Place.

Days after the conference, Sloss Real Estate president Cathy Sloss Jones, Leigh Sloss Corra, the Executive Director of the Market at Pepper Place, Nancy Hopkins, the president of IACP, gathered to discuss a similar project centered on Birmingham.

After another year of planning, including a reveal party in 2022, the FOOD+ Culture festival launched in 2023.

“We’ve got some of the best food. Not only in the state. But some of the best food in the United States,” said Cathy Sloss-Jones. “So how do we keep elevating that conversation and inviting people to come in and visit?”

The 2024 Birmingham FOOD+Culture Festival will take place from Sep.19 to Sept. 22. Organizers plan to release the rundown of events later this year.