Everything To Know About The Bay Area’s First POC Food & Wine Festival

The first-ever POC Food & Wine Festival is happening on May 2-5, 2024, with events taking place in both San Francisco and Berkeley. This multi-day festival celebrates the global majority — aka people of color — in food, wine, music, and culture. In addition to building community and showcasing diverse talent, this festival is a multi-sensory experience, intertwining DJs, artists, chefs, and more for a one-of-a-kind celebration of people of color in the realms of culinary, wine, hospitality and entertainment.

"What excites me most is the potential this festival has to forge connections, inspire young chefs of color, and challenge the status quo," says Chef Tu David Phu, Top Chef alumni, author and filmmaker. "It's a space where we can freely express our culinary visions, share our rich cultural narratives, and celebrate each other's achievements without reservation and white-washing."

"The POC Food & Wine Festival is not just an event; it's a powerful statement of belonging, pride, and unity," he continues. "I am profoundly honored to contribute to this groundbreaking moment, looking forward to an extraordinary celebration of talent, culture, and community."

Its signature event, The Main Dish, is happening on Saturday May 4th from 1pm to 7pm and features an incredible lineup of both local and nationally decorated POC chefs like Top Chef Alum Chef Tu David Phu, James Beard Nominated Chef Reem Assil, and more. POC-owned wine and beverage brands will also be pouring that day including Asian-owned Duncan Peak Vineyards, Black-owned Indigene Wines, Black-owned Black Girl Magic Wines, and more.

Chef Reem Assil will be hosting her own family meal with POC Food & Wine Festival on Thursday May 2nd and Cannabis Cookbook Author Chef Haejin of Big Bad Wolf will be hosting her own family meal with POC Food & Wine Festival on Sunday May 5th.

The POC Food & Wine Festival is presented by Make it Mariko, a San Francisco creative events agency led by women of color that has over seven years of experience through UNDISCOVERED SF Filipino Creative Market. One of Make it Mariko's key goals with this unique festival is to diversify the food and beverage industry, while uplifting local creatives and entrepreneurs of color.

"I’ve been producing festivals for 7 years," says Gina Mariko Rosales, CEO & Executive Producer of POC Food & Wine Festival. "With our biggest and most well known being UNDISCOVERED SF Filipino Night Market in SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District. While this festival has been so amazing and impactful for the Filipino community, I’ve had the desire to build connections and collaborations with other multicultural communities."

"As people of color in this country, many of us 2nd generation sons and daughters of immigrants, we share many similar experiences and unique challenges," she continues. "Our cultures are often ostracized, our natural hair is banned, and our food is othered and ridiculed, to name just a few."

With this festival, Rosales seeks to "tell a new story about ‘minority communities’ in the U.S., one that celebrates [our] communities of color." This festival is primmed to bring together a diverse community of chefs, wine and beverage brands, entrepreneurs, creatives, artists, and DJs to celebrate their cultures and bring forth new cross-cultural collaborations that previously didn't exist.

"There are amazing people doing amazing work in food, beverage, events, entertainment, but we often don’t get access to or featured in larger mainstream spaces," explains Rosales. "I wanted to change that. I wanted to create a festival space that was designed for diverse communities to be seen and normalized. For our stories to be centered. So we can normalize our cultures and grow more empathy for one another."

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We chatted with Rosales, in addition to Chef Tu David Phu; Chef Reem Assil and Zaynah, co-founder of Reems; and Chef Haejin Chun, first-generation Korean American, founder of Big Bad Wolf and cannabis expert. Here's what they had to say.

Why is it more important than ever to share the stories of POC? What are some of the key takeaways you hope attendees bring home with them?

Gina Mariko Rosales: It’s such a tumultuous time in our country and we’re more divided than ever. DEI is under attack and even being banned, when we ironically need it more than ever. We need more diverse spaces that allow us to humanize each other.

I hope that attendees feel joy, connectedness, and a sense of home when they come to the festival. I hope it feels like one big family party where you’re getting fed delicious food, frequent toasts, tons of line dancing, and meeting new values-aligned people. I hope the festival inspires new multicultural collaborations that never existed. I hope it brings people out of their comfort zones and typical circles, and introduces them to new spaces where they can be their authentic selves.

What does it mean to you to be a part of the first ever POC Food & Wine Festival?

Chef Tu David Phu: Participating in the first ever POC Food & Wine Festival marks a significant and personal milestone for me, as it goes beyond mere culinary celebration. It embodies the creation of a safe, inclusive space that honors and uplifts the voices, experiences, and cuisines of people of color.

This festival stands as a beacon of what we can achieve when we craft spaces that are for us, by us, allowing us to celebrate our heritage, creativity, and contributions without the shadow of tokenism or marginalization. In contrast to other events where representation can sometimes feel superficial or tokenistic, this festival is a heartfelt declaration of our place in the culinary world.

It's about affirming our identities and the depth of our culinary traditions in a space where we don't have to dilute our stories for broader acceptance. Here, we're not just included; we're the main event. It's incredibly empowering to be part of a movement that champions diversity and inclusivity at its core, offering a platform for POC chefs to shine in their authenticity.

Talk about your opening family meal and what this experience will be like. How are you specifically highlighting the Palestinian Family Meal?

Chef Reem & Zaynah: Our opening Palestinian Family Meal evokes two sacred experiences we’re excited to share with the broader community: first, the family meal in restaurant culture is a moment for the whole team to gather and share a meal before or after service, often cooked by one of the chefs using extraneous ingredients or leftovers. It’s a community-building practice cherished in restaurant spaces and this is our version to share!

Second, this is a Palestinian Family Meal. We will be celebrating the richness and diversity of the Palestinian culinary landscape — from land to sea — and the warmth of Arab hospitality. Our goal is to uplift, celebrate, and share traditional Palestinian food ways, which in this moment is an essential form of resistance to cultural erasure. The meal with gather individuals around communal tables and highlight the abundance of Palestinian cuisine with a touch of seasonal California love in a multi-course Palestinian feast, served family-style, of course.

The meal will feature Reem’s signature sourdough pita bread to accompany a luxurious spread of hot and cold mezze such as spicy Gazan shrimp in cooked in clay pots and smoked avocado mutabbal, braised chicken with maftoul — Palestinian couscous — and a refreshing cardamom-spiked milk custard for dessert. The meal will be accompanied by curated wine and spirit pairings from local and global Palestinian wine makers.

Talk about your closing meal and what's special and unique about it? What does it mean to you to be a part of the first ever POC Food & Wine Festival?

Chef Haejin: Our closing meal will be the final climax to round out the weekend of festivities of POC Food & Wine and at Big Bad Wolf we plan to make sure it's memorable to the last drop. We believe that the universal language of breaking bread together combined with the ritual of wine and cannabis, is communal alchemy.

This family style meal is meant to slow us down a little from the whirlwind of tastings and libations from the day before, by grounding ourselves around a family style table with more intention and presence. A chance to truly connect, build community and celebrate each other with an elevated meal that would make our ancestors proud.

As a first generation Korean American chef, representation is everything. To see us having a moment, in an industry that doesn't always create a space for us at the table... I'm honored to be able to create our own.