SOBEWFF 2025: What to Eat, Drink, and See at This Year's Event

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is one of the biggest culinary festivals in the world and 2025 has an unbeatable lineup of chefs. 

A Miami food festival in February is the perfect warm-weather winter escape, and this year's South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF) will be the biggest yet, with more than 65,000 guests expected to attend.

Taking place from February 20-23, 2025, the SOBEWFF features a guest list of more than 500 participating chefs and is a mashup of Michelin-starred fine-dining luminaries, Food Network stars, social media celebrities, and local Florida chefs and food artisans. With 105 events spread over four days, there's truly something for every palate, whether you're interested in barbecue or sushi, pastries or wine. Tickets are sold for each individual event, inclusive of all food and drink, so you can follow your favorite chefs and favorite foods to customize a weekend of indulgence.

Most of the main events take place within easy walking distance on South Beach, but as the festivities have grown over the more than two decades since Lee Brian Schrager founded SOBEWFF in 2002, you'll also find exclusive dinners on Fisher Island and an entire series of events, including a walk-around farmers' market brunch curated by Michael Schwartz, in the Miami Design District. There's definitely an element of FOMO with so many overlapping events, but it's nice to have a mix of larger walk-around tastings and more intimate sit-down dinners to choose from.

The Grand Tasting Village, open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5:00 p.m., is a marquee event and an astounding showcase of 30 South Florida restaurants against an Atlantic Ocean backdrop. The mass of white tents on the beach spans three city blocks, with cooking demonstrations and DJs keeping the atmosphere lively. Capital One cardholders get early access to beat the crowds and discounted tickets to other events too. Dress casual but colorful, and skip the heels since you're walking around in the sand.

This year, Guy Fieri hosts a live showdown of Food Network’s hit series Tournament of Champions for the first time, with past TOC champions Mei Lin, Brooke Williamson, Maneet Chauhan, and Tiffany Faison battling for the title with their chef friends while attendees get to be the judges. An Asian night market hosted by Andrew Zimmern, Jet Tila, and Aarti Sequeira on Sunday night is sure to be a memorable finale too.

Seattle’s Shota Nakajima is excited to visit Florida for the first time for his SOBEWFF debut. He’ll be cooking a dinner with friend and mentor Stephanie Izard as well as competing in Tournament of Champions. “I'm thrilled to join SOBEWFF for the first time,” he says. “Being surrounded by incredible talent and amazing food is an honor. I'm excited for the great vibes and the chance to learn from everyone.” If he has any spare time, Nakajima hopes to dine at his buddy Jeremy Ford’s Michelin-starred South Beach restaurant Stubborn Seed or even visit his new five-acre farm, Ford’s Farm, in Homestead.

It will be Mei Lin’s first time at SOBEWFF as well. “These festivals are fun because I get to see chef friends I haven’t seen in a long time,” she says, adding that she’s also gunning to take home another Tournament of Champions crown.