Rethinking Chicken: How Food Fests Set Trends

Could fried chicken in its many forms—Southern-style, Korean-spiced, even served in a waffle cone—be the next big trend in food?

Elizabeth Karmel, executive chef of New York City’s Hill Country Chicken, can’t be sure, but she feels it’s a sign that the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival has devoted a whole event to fried chicken. Ms. Karmel is bringing her own fried chicken in a waffle cone to the party, a Whoopi Goldberg-hosted event called Shake & Bake, which will take place Thursday night.

Food-festival events have become trend-setters in the culinary world by taking “an iconic food group and turning it into a fabulous celebration,” says Ms. Karmel.

Shake & Bake joins other themed events at the four-day New York foodie extravaganza—such as the Burger Bash and Meatball Madness—that have helped refashion comfort-food staples as chic new creative arenas for chefs.  Check out the whole article Wall Street Journal