food plus festival — Birmingham hosted the first FOOD+Culture Festival this year. (Birmingham FOOD+)

This October, Birmingham hosted the inaugural FOOD+Culture Festival, a local festival with a mission to bring together food lovers, chefs and artisans to enjoy the cultural vibrancy of The Magic City’s culinary landscape. Recently, the festival was nominated by USA Today for the 2024 Readers’ Choice “Best New Festival” category.

Read on to learn how to cast your vote for Birmingham.

World-class food festival hosted in Birmingham

As we reported in October, the FOOD+Culture Festival presented by Southern Living boasted four days of dinners, music, markets and more. Featuring more than 50 chefs across various Birmingham venues like Pepper Place and Sloss Furnaces, the festival was a huge success among local foodies.

Events included an amplified farmers market, jazz brunch, themed dinners and guest chef appearances at local Birmingham restaurants with surprise pop-up menus. The cornerstone event was FOOD+Fire, a walk-through tasting event at Sloss Furnaces celebrating barbecue and Southern tailgate culture with live music, tons of food from local barbecue spots and, of course, football.

USA Today ranks Birmingham among the best

Every year, USA Today hosts the Readers’ Choice “10 Best” Awards with categories pertaining to food, retail, travel and more. Selected by a panel of experts, the field is narrowed down by a team of editors to determine the final nominees. Readers then vote for the winners of each category.

Other nominees for best new festival include: