New Festival Mixes Food and Music

What do Giada de Laurentiis and the Kings of Leon have in common? They’re joining forces in (where else?) Nashville for the inaugural Music City Eats food and music festival, which takes place Sept. 21-22.

The roster of culinary masterminds on the schedule at this event includes Jonathan Waxman, who got his start as a chef at Chez Panisse; Aarón Sánchez, a judge on what’s probably my favorite reality show; country-star-turned-cooking-show-host Trisha Yearwood; Jeni of ice cream fame; and Michael Symon, an actual Iron Chef. And that’s just a small selection of the nationally renowned foodies hosting panels and cooking demonstrations at the two-day event.

Because I live, work and eat in Music City, I’m drooling even more just looking at the local talent from Nashville’s best restaurants: Deb Paquette (Etch), Pat Martin (Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint), Roderick Bailey (Silly Goose), Arnold Myint (Suzy Wong’s House of Yum), Erik Anderson & Josh Habiger (Catbird Seat), Carey Bringle (Peg Leg Porker, pictured above) … just to name a few. They’ll all be serving up samples for attendees at Flavors of Nashville, the tasting portion of the festival.

So where do the Followill boys fit in? They’re hosting Saturday evening’s PettyFest. Because you can’t have just a food festival in a musical mecca, PettyFest features power players including Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, Buddy Miller and Norah Jones performing, as you might guess by the name, hit songs by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

For ticket information, available in two-day or all-in, check out the MCE website. Volunteer opportunities are also available if you’re here in Nashville.