It’s hard to know where to begin as a patron of the sixth annual Food and Wine Celebration.

After getting off the shuttle at The Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, I wondered what to do first. Should I head immediately for the big tents and start sampling the culinary dishes created by more than 30 chefs from upscale restaurants around the county, take in a wine demo and tasting in the CVI’s gorgeous ultra-modern building or stroll the adjacent herb and vegetable gardens, laid out in an intriguing pattern with all sort of interesting growing things?

Wanting to hear more of Ragtime Rick and the Chefs of Dixieland band playing near the gardens, I decided to take a look at some of the horticultural gems thriving in carefully tended, weed-free plots and listen at the same time.

“Wow! I didn’t know beets get this big,” I remarked to my sister, Barb, ogling a cluster of bull’s blood, a beet variety that had grown to the size of softballs.

After seeing what a green thumb (and lots of horticultural knowledge and skill can do), we headed off to a nearby tent where chef Richard Alford, a culinary teacher at the University of Akron, was sitting at a table displaying figures he’d carved from vegetables and fruit. I liked the swan shaped from a honeydew, but Barb preferred the unicorn sculpted from a kohlrabi and carrot, although the floral concoction made from a watermelon gave us both a close second choice.

CVI was created six years ago as a way to interface with chefs across the nation and supply them with the finest herbs, microgreens, specialty vegetables and edible flowers, raised at the farm since the early 1980s through the practice of sustainable farming. The festival is a fundraiser for Veggie U, the CVI’s educational arm, which tries to teach fourth-graders healthy food habits to enhance nutrition, combat obesity and focus on aspects of sustainable agriculture.

This five-week curriculum provides students with a hands-on kit that includes soil, seeds, flats and a grow light to let the students see, hear, taste, feel and experience the process of planting, growing, harvesting — and eating the results. In the 2007-08 school year, Veggie U made its way into 1,465 classrooms in 24 states.

Besides the sale of tickets a $145 each (more than 1,200 people attended the 2008 festival), organizers raise money for Veggie U. by holding a live auction in which people can bid on items such as a private dinner for 20, prepared and executed by a team from Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant in Chicago, and a two-night stay for two at the Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, S.C., that includes dinner at the top-rated Charleston Grill.

Easier on the budget, the festival’s silent auction featured everything from a signed copy of Bobby Flay’s “Mesa Grill Cookbook” to a bracelet donated by celebrity chef, Paula Deen, and two tickets to the Grand Tasting at the California Wine Experience in New York.

My main reason for attending the festival was to enjoy the food and wine walkaround in which samples of food were served on small plates along with pours of wine from a multitude of world-renowned vineyards, including Trinchero, Wente and the Napa Wine Co.

To give you an idea of some of the sophisticated cuisine served, some of my favorites included Chef Aaron Deal’s Manchester Farm Quail with Bacon, Carrot and Mustard Cress (from Tristan Restaurant in Charleston, S.C.), Chef Beej Flamholz’s Tuna Tartare with Cucamelon and Binitje Potato Crisp (from Beej Flamholz LLC in Lutherville, Md.) and Chef Chad Ellis’ Citrus Cured Sturgeon, Chive, Yukon Potato Salad, Watercress Vichyssoise and Petite Amaranth (from The Ritz-Carlton in Jupiter, Fla.).

Near the end of the day, I sat in on the Star Chef Cook-Off, an Iron Chef type of format in which three of the nation’s top chefs battled to determine whose cuisine reigned supreme. Using beef and pork tenderloin and black cherry tomatoes and cardamom shoots from the Chefs’ Garden as the main ingredient, Chef Marcel Vigneron took away top honors after an exciting show of culinary prowess on the part of all three chefs.



IF YOU’RE GOING ...

Food and Wine Celebration



•The 2009 Food and Wine Celebration at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, is scheduled for July 18. For more information or tickets, call (419) 499-7500 or go to www.veggieu.org.

•For a place to stay, the nearby Sawmill Creek Resort sits on 235 acres on the shore of Lake Erie at 400 Sawmill Creek in Huron, Ohio. The full-service resort features 240 deluxe rooms and suites, dining, swimming, an 18-hole golf course designed by Tom Fazio, entertainment and a nature preserve. The resort offers special package plans for golf, Cedar Point, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Weekend and more. Call (800) 729-6455 or visit www.sawmillcreek.com.