Burger Bash Makes Its South Beach Debut

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival has added a new event built around a familiar food: the hamburger. The first Burger Bash, hosted by Rachael Ray, brought competing interpretations of the sandwich into a festival better known for its broad tastings, chef appearances and elaborate dinners.

The appeal is easy to understand. A burger gives visitors a common starting point, while leaving plenty of room for differences in preparation, toppings and texture. It also makes a chef competition accessible to an audience that does not need a specialist vocabulary to decide what it enjoys.

The event arrived during the festival’s sixth year and alongside a program that included the first Food Network Awards. Together, those additions emphasized the relationship between television personalities and live food events. South Beach supplied the setting, but the new format gave the weekend something more specific than another general tasting: a recognizable dish around which a whole evening could be organized.