Garden to Glass at SBCE. Credit: SBCE

Santa Barbara Culinary Experience Celebrates Food, Wine, and Julia Child

8 Minute read

08 May 2026

Julie Tremaine

Writer

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The weeklong event brings together chef collaborations, wine tastings, food tours, and tributes to Julia Child across Santa Barbara County.

If Julia Child’s famous adage that “people who love to eat are the best people” is true, then plenty of those people will be heading to Santa Barbara for the upcoming Santa Barbara Culinary Experience. The weeklong event takes place across Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Goleta from May 11–17, bringing together chef dinners, culinary demonstrations, food tours, a large-scale wine tasting, and a strong sense of Julia Child’s lasting influence on the region.

Child may have learned to appreciate great food in France and filmed hundreds of episodes of The French Chef in Boston, but her roots were firmly Californian. The famed Francophile grew up in Pasadena and later returned to the state, settling in Montecito and spending much of her time dining around town. She loved the family-owned La Super Rica so much that the taqueria became nationally famous through her praise.

Among this year’s offerings is the Sips, Sights, & a Touch of Julia Child Trolley Tour, which combines sightseeing with food tastings across the city. There are also tribute dinners inspired by Child’s culinary influence, including a collaboration between LULIO at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara and San Francisco restaurant 7 Adams celebrating “the spirit of convivial dining that Julia championed throughout her life.” Another highlight is The Garden Table & Fireside Stories: The Joy of Cooking and Gathering, a storytelling dinner featuring Child’s niece, Phila Cousins, and grand-nephew Alex Prud’homme, co-author of her memoirs My Life in France and The French Chef in America.

The week also includes the annual Julia Child Award ceremony, which honors “an individual or team who has made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats and drinks,” according to the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. Past recipients include Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters and Bobby Stuckey, whose restaurant Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2025.

“I was so caught off guard,” Stuckey told Fine Dining Lovers in 2025 after receiving the Julia Child Award. “...She was so much a part of my youth, and then my early and mid-career. So it was really exciting.”

But the event is not solely centered on Julia Child. The Santa Barbara Culinary Experience, sponsored in part by S.Pellegrino, also highlights the broader flavors of Santa Barbara County, from regional wines and seasonal produce to specialty foods made by local artisans. Additional events include cooking and cocktail classes, a food tour and painting session in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, a seafood cooking demonstration and dinner with local fishermen at The Lark, a tour and tasting at the Cultured Abalone Farm in Goleta, and a Red Oak Grilling Master Class at Hitching Post II in Buellton, one of the Santa Ynez Valley restaurants featured in Sideways.

The week culminates with the Grand Wine Tasting on May 16 at Santa Barbara’s El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park. The event brings together more than 40 Santa Barbara County wineries, alongside panel discussions with food and wine experts, food tastings, and live music.

“The Santa Barbara Culinary Experience is one of the region’s most comprehensive culinary events, bringing together food, wine and local makers that make the Santa Barbara community so unique. We hope locals and visitors get to partake in many events across our week-long county-wide celebration,” Tamara Berndt, SBCE director, said in a statement shared with Fine Dining Lovers.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Santa Barbara food-focused nonprofits. Tickets and additional event information are available through the SBCE website.