The festival of chocolate will be held at the NSU Arena at Don Taft University Center, on Oct. 13–14, beginning at 10 a.m.
The event will provide chocolate lovers an opportunity to celebrate chocolate. It will showcase the best of local and regional chocolatiers and confection companies. From cookies, crepes, ice cream, waffles, coffee and more, it will exclusively feature chocolate treats.
Aileen Mand, the producer of the event, said that she and her business partner realized that there was need for some good education on chocolate. She said that people love wine and coffee and there are events for them, but perhaps even more people love chocolate. Yet, few people know much about it. Mand said they decided to be the people to educate the chocolate audience, whether they’re two years old or 102.
Mand promises that the event will be a lot of fun for everyone. Activities will include the “wheel of chocolate game show”, a “chocolate world record challenge” and a session discussing the health benefits of chocolate. There’ll even be a “cocoa couture fashion show”, where 18 designers will strut their fashion on the chocolate “yum” way. All the designs will be made out of chocolate wrappers.
A cake accessories collection will also be launched, showcasing hats, belts, scarves, gloves, turbans and other accessories, all made out of chocolate wrappers.
The event will also feature a chocolate clubhouse, where adults can sample chocolate wine, get chocolate hand massages, and try a chocolate martini. There will also be a “chocolate chill lounge” where adults can literally “chill” out while eating their chocolate.
There will be demonstrations by top pastry chefs, including Jodi Panisello, who has been named one of the ten best pastry chefs in the U.S. by the New York Times, Malka Espinel, instructor at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and Juan Villaparedes, from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.
Mand hopes that people will walk away from the event having learned something that they didn’t know about the food that they absolutely love, while having a lot of fun.
The admission to the festival is $12 for an adult ticket. But NSU students, faculty and staff can receive a discount by pre-ordering online. Simply visit nova.festivalofchocolate.com/tickets and use the code “ChocolateShark”.
