Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic 2015
Packed House Under the Hawthorne Tent
By: Philip S. Kampe - Aug 18, 2015
Well, Tanglewood did it again. Music has been its mantra for years, but, once a year, the staff under the guidance of Debbi Otto prepared themselves for a deluge of food and wine lovers.
Music, of course ties in to their weekend interest, but from noon to three in the afternoon, the Hawthorne Tent at Tanglewood is at full capacity with 1,000 joyous visitors, who partake in the remarkable wine and food festival.
This year was no exception!
Attendees lined up more than half an hour in advance, waiting to secure tastes from the numerous vendors who wait for the consumers to sample their wares. This year was no different.
With a green wrist bands in place and noon as the starting point, both the vendors and consumers knew that the next three hours would change their lives even though just temporarily.
The Hawthorne Tent was like a circus tent...acts in every corner. Food vendors, wine vendors and the stages that were home to the demonstration chefs.
One of my backgrounds is cheese. I was a cheese writer for Terrance Brennan, owner of Artisanal Cheese and Picholine Restaurant in Manhattan. Max McCalman, the 'Top Cheese Educator in America' was one of the stars of the day. He was cutting cheese for the consumers, while educating them about the positive assets of each cheese they sampled.
He was backed up and needed help to move the consumers along. He asked for my help, which I gladly consented to. I grabbed a cheese knife and began my task of explaining what cheese was being offered as a sample, its background historically and from what animal it came from.
Nearly a thousand slices later, I was released from my 'honorary job'.
|It was time to survey the tent and see what else was going on.
Needless to say, the crowd, as well as the vendors were happy with the evident success of the 2015 Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic.