DON'T WASTE TIME! TODAY'S THE FINAL DAY TO ENTER THE KITCHEN PASS LOTTERY!

Today is the FINAL DAY to enter the KITCHEN PASS LOTTERY SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 24. Don't waste time! You have until 6 PM PACIFIC/9 PM EASTERN to enter!

150 kitchen passes will be awarded.

The results will be released 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern on Monday, October 24, 2011.

Future Global Expansion of Exhibitions to be Discussed

-Marina del Rey, CA
-We are continuing to learn more about the slated agenda for the closing day of Feast Fest Meeting & Conference Week when it opens up later on this morning.

Arthur Ayeiy, an assistant to FF Manager William Vanderbilt, revealed that one subject that will be discussed is possible further global expansion of Feast Fest exhibitions.

FF made history in October 2010 when it held the first ever exhibition in a foreign country when it did so at Kitchen Stadium in Tokyo. Exhibitions in Tokyo were again successfully forged in April 2011 and one is slated for January 2012. Tokyo has earned its permanent slot as the one non-U.S. site on the exhibition schedule.

FF will begin a new eight-exhibition offseason schedule in 2012, but this setup will remain through at least 2016. This means that expansion would have to take away the exhibition of an FF exhibition stronghold. In 2011 and 2012, Edelyn Cooking Arena has hosted/will host two exhibitions; if one was taken away it would open up an expansion slot. But Edelyn's officials are rough-and-tumble; FF couldn't even introduce a new venue (Nø, Joe Pasik's restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts) for 2012 under the soon-obsolete seven exhibition setup. Edelyn wanted both its exhibitions, meaning that to add a new venue they had to add a new exhibition--something Vandy and the powers that be don't want to do for at least another five years.

Another question to be answered is where the exhibition would be located. Europe is a certainty--if the logistics can be worked out, FF has arrangements with restaurants and cooking arenas worked out in Paris and Zurich, and is working on those arrangements for London, Barcelona, Rome, and Thessalonki, Greece.

However, the 2012 exhibition schedule is already made out. And, though it will not be officially released until October 17, 2012, the framework of the 2013 exhibitional season is already in place; it just needs to be fleshed out a bit.

So FF will likely be setting its second international foot down in the great and culinarily diverse continent of Europe, but Europeans may have up to a three year wait to see Feast Fest chefs in action.

Vanderbilt on Mei Okoworth

-Marina del Rey, CA
-William Vanderbilt released this statement regarding Mei Okoworth in the wee hours Friday morning after Okoworth's announcement that he would be leaving Feast Fest after this year's event:

"Feast Fest will be without one of its most eclectic chefs in 2012. The mixed Asian-Spanish-American influences of Mei Okoworth will be available to us for only one more Thanksgiving, I am sorrowed to report, after he confided to me his intentions to leave the event in 2012 for personal reasons.' Though his wonderful brother Ai Okoworth will not be leaving, both have unique styles that are distinct from one another despite their familial ties. Mei's culinary talents will be missed, and we hope he enjoys his final Feast Fest campaign and we will wish him luck in the future."

M. Okoworth Leaving

-Marina del Rey, CA
-Mei Okoworth, a Feast Fest chef and brother of fellow FF chef Ai Okoworth, announced late Thursday he would be leaving Feast Fest after the 2011 installment of the event. Details as to the reason are not known and will be discussed at conferences Friday. He stated that his brother Ai is not planning to leave Feast Fest.

The Week in Feast Fest: Friday, October 21, 2011 - Thursday, October 27, 2011

Important Feast Fest dates this week:

Friday, 10/21 - The final day of Feast Fest Fall Meeting & Conference Week, more Conferences featuring Vanderbilt, Jim Dall, chefs, and other personalities.

Saturday, 10/22 - Feast Fest Initiation and Celebration Ceremony for New-in-2011 Chefs in Marina del Rey, Ca.

Sunday, 10/23 - Fall Leaving Day: Chefs, managers, personnel leave the Beachview Resort and will not return to it until a week or so before Thanksgiving. Autographs, photo taking, when permissible by the chef, is allowed.

Monday, 10/24 - Kitchen Retrofitting Day: The beginning of the two week transformation process of the Dining Hall kitchen from normal status to Feast Fest status. Kitchen Pass Lottery Day! - 150 passes up for grabs!

Tuesday, 10/25 - No unique activities scheduled.

Wednesday, 10/26 - Scouters' Wednesday - The official Scouting Report for the 2010-2011 offseason is released.

Thursday, 10/27 - Managerial Thursday - The official Managerial Report for the 2010-2011 offseason is released.


Birthdays!
10/22 - Ai Okoworth
10/25 - Lindbergh Merrssff (fmr. chef)
10/26 - Gulliaume Jacquetaine, Hillary Wilkin

Next WiFF - Friday, October 28, 2011 - Thursday, November 3, 2011

More Maintenance

The FF ticketing hotline will again be undergoing maintenance from 6 am PDT/9 am EDT to 11 am PDT/2 pm EDT on Friday, October 21, 2011. We apologize for any inconvenience this may create.

Crowd Blamed For Galen-Ames ER Visit

-Marina del Rey, CA
-The crowd at a Feast Fest conference Thursday morning is being blamed for the hospitalization of Brianna Galen-Ames after she broke her ankle.

Galen-Ames suffered a broken ankle early Thursday after being booed off the stage at a Feast Fest conference.

On Tuesday, Galen-Ames spoke for about four minutes but had expected remarks of fifteen to twenty minutes. Because the crowd at Tuesday's conference was so harsh, Galen-Ames was ushered off the stage for safety.

She was scheduled to speak again on the matter of her possible return to Feast Fest in 2012 at a Conference on Thursday. However, despite additional security, the crowd was just as raucous and Galen-Ames again had to be removed from the stage. She then broke her ankle after she stormed out of the Conference hall in anger and slipped on a waxed floor. Galen-Ames was taken to Centinela Hospital, where she was X-rayed, given a cast, and sent back to the Beachview Resort. She was planning to leave the L.A. area Friday to return to her rural central Illinois home.

The teenaged culinary maven had no direct comments to reporters when she returned to the Beachview Resort from the hospital, where she had spent about four hours getting X-rays and a cast. She said she would not speak on the matter and that she simply wanted to go up to her hotel room to recuperate and rest for her flight back to Illinois tomorrow.

FF Event Mgr. William Vanderbilt said in a prepared comment, "The Feast Fest Family is deeply regretful to hear of the injury this morning to Brianna Galen-Ames. If the crowd at the Conference had been quieter and polite, she would not have stormed out of the hall and suffered this affliction. We wish Brianna well and hope that this stunning chef will be able to successfully recuperate from her broken bone at her home in Illinois. We also hope that when she is all well again that we at Feast Fest can come to an agreement that satisfies everybody and re-add this culinary prodigy back to our Feast Fest team for 2012."

Vanderbilt had no further comment.