The Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented By Capital One Launches 'NYCWFF At Home' Benefiting Restaurant Relief

The Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One (NYCWFF) announced on Friday it has launched NYCWFF at Home presented by Bank of America, an ongoing, virtual, live cooking and educational series that will bring consumers into the kitchens and living rooms of their favorite chefs, cooks, mixologists and food personalities. Each digital event will be powered by Zoom and co-hosted by Andrew Kaplan, a close friend of the Festival and host of the popular podcasts "Beyond the Plate," and "CookTracks." The series launches on May 4 and will air three times per week.

The initial NYCWFF At Home presented by Bank of America lineup includes personalities such as:

• Mexican Fiesta with David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris (May 4);
• Home Cooking with Alex and Ava Guaurnaschelli (May 6);
• Classic Carbona with Chef and Healthy Lifestyle Crusader, Rocco DiSpirito (May 20)
• Cookbook author and TV personality, Gail Simmons (May 27);
• Michael Chernow and Daniel Holzman of The Meatball Shop (Details and Date to Come);
• Rachael Ray (Details and Date to Come);
• Katie Lee (Details and Date to Come);
• Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto (Details and Date to Come);
• Amirah Kassem of Flour Shop (Details and Date to Come);
• Josh and Amanda Capon, Lure Fishbar (Details and Date to Come);
• The Zakarian Family (Details and Date to Come) and
• Chloe Coscarelli, Vegan Chef (Details and Date to Come)

Hosts will broadcast live from their homes and connect with participants during interactive cooking demonstrations and question and answer sessions. Hosts will also be giving away one complimentary annual subscription to the Food Network Kitchen app during each class. Proceeds from these ticketed online events, which sell for $20 per person, will support the newly established NYCWFF Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, a campaign to support the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's (NRAEF) Restaurant Employee Relief Fund to help restaurant workers hit hard financially by the COVID-19 crisis.  NYCWFF is partnering with the NRAEF to raise funds specifically for restaurant workers throughout the state of New York.

"Bringing our Festival into the homes of our fans is the natural progression of our commitment to create entertaining culinary experiences while supporting a great cause," said Lee Brian Schrager, Founder and Director, NYCWFF. "This new virtual platform helps us keep NYCWFF top of mind at a time of great uncertainty and provides a way to give back to the incredible New York restaurant community that has been there for us during the past twelve years, supporting our Festival and also our beneficiaries No Kid Hungry® and Food Bank For New York City."

Specific dates for the series, along with additional guest hosts, will be announced on NYCWFF.org/atHome. The NYCWFF Restaurant Employee Relief Fund complements the efforts of its sister festival, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One, which launched the SOBEWFF® & FIU Chaplin School Hospitality Relief Fund in March. The SOBEWFF® & FIU Chaplin School Hospitality Relief Fund has raised $1.5 million to date and has already issued more than 400 grants to restaurants in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, Florida counties.