A visit to Charleston Wine and food festival isn’t complete without a visit to the Culinary Village in Marion Square.

They have so much going on-great demos, discussions, wine and booze samples and fantastic new products to try.

Atlanta Chef Chris Hall (Local Three, Common Quarter and more) reigns supreme AGAIN at the Waffle House Smackdown…was there ever really any doubt?

A kind stranger ask if I wanted a picture of myself while I was taking pictures of one of the chef’s tables… of course my answer was “YES”!

This cast iron skillet from Butter Pat Industries (pictured below) is aptly named, It’s polished to buttery smoothness. I could barely drag myself away from their table, I didn’t want to stop touching it. It’s my favorite new product from the festival.

Chef Forrest Parker (Old Village Post House Inn – Mount Pleasant, SC) served up some delicious bacon wrapped quail with some nearly extinct but thankfully rescued African runner peanuts

Chef Michael Shortino of Futo Buta – Charlotte, NC- prepared my favorite dish in the culinary village….

This incredible pork belly bun using pork from Hickory Nut Gap Farm– Fairview, NC

Mind Of A Chef producer Nari Kye moderated a discussion on food waste with Chefs Steven Satterfield (Miller Union– GA) and Gabrielle Hamilton (Prune– NY) all pictured below. I try to be frugal in my home kitchen but this discussion took things to a whole ‘nother level. Chef Satterfield told us about how he created a kale French toast recipe in his restaurant to put stale bread and kale stems to good use. Chicken livers and apple skins were also put to good use to create a chicken liver mousse with apple jelly to go with the French toast.

Chef Hamilton tells us that she thinks to herself “what can I do with this water left over from blanching vegetables?” That water goes on to poach other items and later becomes a stock or a soup.

My favorite sip of the day was Charleston’s own Red Harbor Rum. It’s finished in charred oak barrels making it so rich and smooth, great for sipping neat.

Oh, and when I was leaving I met prolific cookbook author and all around cool lady Nathalie Dupree

I’m guffaw-ing like an idiot because she said “Say SEX” as I was getting ready to snap this pick…I totally didn’t see that coming.

I took a TON of pictures. I think I’ll upload them to my Tumblr if I can remember the password. Are you a fan of food festivals? Which ones have you attended? Which ones would you like to visit? Please let me know in the comments below