Question: what’s the definition of torture? Answer: Being on a self-inflicted raw food diet during the New York Food and Wine Festival. Yup, this was hard. Walking through the cavernous surrounds of the Grand Tasting room, eying off the special offerings from some of New York’s finest chefs, and not being able to taste a morsel of it. Well, maybe a morsel. We did, afterall, come upon a tasty Tomato and Watermelon Salad with Goat Cheese, Arugula and Juniper by chef Todd Mark Miller. But the rest? Well, you can look but you can’t gobble down. And this was a food lovers’ hedonism: table after table of delicious treats, washed down by an endless selection of wines and spirits. There were cupcakes from Kyotofu, steaks from The River Cafe, and an Iron Chef station featuring a real time challenge. Still, the diet won. No treats for me that day, but instead a glimpse at how the other half live. Even if it was for just a few hours. [photos by Alison Zavos]

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When I found out I was going to have the opportunity to cover the Food & Wine Festival’s Meatpacking Uncorked event I was beside myself. Not really sure what to expect, I skipped lunch. I wanted to leave every square inch of gut vacant and ready to accommodate delicious food. Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised by the street fair slant of the event. I had expected to be corralled into a tight area, pressed shoulder to shoulder with other enthusiastic foodies, gasping for air between gulps of wine. Not at all.

We caroused the entire perimeter of the Meatpacking District, hopping from store to store sampling fantastic wine and food. Musicians and performers, some on stilts, one even with a flaming hula hoop, added to the street fair vibe. The highlights included Murray’s Barely Buzzed Cheese — a delicious cow’s milk concoction from Utah covered in ground coffee and lavender, insane Taquitos from Los Dados; and, of course, the butterscotch and whiskey Drunken Love cookies from Gansevoort 69. In the wine department, I was really impressed with a fantastic Malbec from Argento. Needless to say, after this event I just grabbed a cab back home only to flop into bed stuffed and happy.