The festival serves as a unique educational platform, with more than 1,500 students gaining hands-on experience in event management each year. Inside FIU's hospitality building, students are actively preparing for this year's festivities, which will feature over 105 events.

Here’s a look in words and pictures at how the world famous food fest got its start at FIU and then the first year in South Beach: When the South Beach Wine & Food Festival debuted in March on the sandy shores of Miami Beach as an outgrowth of the Florida Extravaganza that Florida International University had hosted for five years,