Big success at Los Angeles Mission College’s revived food and wine festival

Spare ribs, seared Ahi, lamb chop medallions, taco plates and plenty of wine drew a crowd of nearly 500 to the sold out San Fernando Valley Food and Wine Festival put on by the Culinary Arts Institute at the 16,500-student Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar.

The popular food and wine fest was on hiatus for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic but came roaring back on Saturday, April 29. It hummed with a DJ, dancing and of course eating, welcomed by a happy crowd of diners who bought tickets to the sold-out event.

Tyler Staines, a spokesman for the college, said the success of the food fest was thanks to the college’s Culinary Arts Institute teachers, some of whom are chefs and who developed the menu, as well as the institute’s culinary arts students who “were in charge of cooking, with oversight by teachers.”

“We brought it back with the theme, ‘Los Angeles street food scene,’” Staines says. Not just a celebration of food, but also a fundraiser for students in need at Los Angeles Mission College, the event raised more than $100,000 thanks in part to a silent auction. The lead sponsor was Element Consulting, Inc. The funds will “go in part to several student scholarships of $500 to $1,000,” Staines said.

The food fest was also “used for practice to compete in the Culinary Cup,” Staines says, referring to the third  Annual Culinary Cup Competition at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College set for Friday, May 12, on the Trade-Tech’s campus in downtown Los Angeles.

The highly competitive May 12 event pits the three colleges within the Los Angeles Community College District that have culinary schools against one another in an intense — if friendly — foodie competition.

The contest brings together Trade-Tech, L.A. Mission College and Los Angeles Harbor College, all of which have culinary schools, in an intense competition that culminates “with the awarding of the coveted Golden Chef’s Hat trophy,” according to Trade-Tech. The competition will offer up “the flavors of Southeast Asia.”