The International Arts and Ideas Festival doesn’t officially start until June 14th, but those hoping to tantalise their taste buds with the festival’s food events won’t have to wait that long.
Among Arts & Ideas’ concerts, film screenings, talks, bike tours, and neighborhood festivals are nine food-related events, including walking tours, cooking classes, and even theater performances.
The first event will take place tomorrow, June 8th.
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June 8: 2024 Appetizer & Dessert Crawl Series (The Shops at Yale)
This is the last of three downtown shopping crawls to raise funds for the festival, costing $20 per ticket, and starts at noon on Broadway Island.
New Haven’s 1898-built Grand Avenue Bridge, which connects Fairhaven Heights and the Fairhaven neighborhood, is scheduled to reopen to traffic on Jan. 18, 2022, following a $28 million reconstruction project — two months ahead of schedule and under budget.
Mark Zaretsky/Hearst Connecticut Media
June 15: Grand Avenue Foodie Tour
The tour will also include Dominican and Puerto Rican food, as well as history. Lee Crews, who led last year’s Grand Avenue tour, will return this year to take participants on a three-hour walk through Fair Haven, according to Eventbrite. The tour starts at 2 p.m. and tickets are $60.
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June 18: Making empanadas
Madeline’s Empanadas, featured on Food Network’s “Best Bites,” will host the hour-and-a-half class at 4:30 p.m. Participants will learn how to make dough and “fillings inspired by Central American, Caribbean and Spanish traditions,” according to the event listing. They’ll also learn how to make cocktails to go with their empanadas. Tickets are $45.
Pizza historian Colin Caplan samples pies at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut.
Lisa Nichols (Hearst CT Media)
June 8th and 9th: What’s next?
Broken Umbrella Theatre will present “A Slice,” a preview of a full-length play exploring the history and culture of New Haven-style pizza. (The full-length play will premiere at next year’s festival.) The event will also include a walking tour of New Haven-style pizza with author and pizza historian Colin Kaplan. Both performances start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $60.
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June 20: World Food Bazaar
The event, held in celebration of World Refugee Day, will bring tea, sweets and food from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria and Senegal to the Festival Center on New Haven Green. It starts at 5:30 p.m. and tickets are $55.
Shelley Pocknett attends the 2023 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards at Lyric Opera of Chicago on June 5, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Jeff Scheer/Getty Images via James Beard Foundation)
Jeff Scheer/Getty Images, courtesy of James Beard
June 25: Indigenous Cooking with Shelley Pocknett
James Beard Award-winning chef Shelley Pocknett will lead this cooking class at Gateway Community College at 5:30 pm. Pocknett will share stories of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. All attendees will get to sample venison skewers, turkey meatballs, mini tacos, corn cakes with cranberry chutney, stuffed mushrooms, quahog fritters, blueberry fritters and salmon bites. Tickets are $55.
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The dining room at Gioia in New Haven, photographed on Sept. 21, 2023.
Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media
June 26: Gioia’s Long Table
This Italian restaurant on Wooster Street hosts a three-course dinner. Guests are greeted with cocktails as the event begins at 5pm, then sit down for a family-style meal. Chef Avi Szapiro will talk about the origins of the restaurant. Tickets are $70.
New Haven’s Syrian-inspired Pistachio Cafe is the brainchild of Mohammed Hafez, the acclaimed artist behind “UNPACKED,” a multimedia installation that recreated the chaotic lives of refugees in a suitcase. The Whaley Avenue cafe, which opened in late summer 2020, is located in the former Café X site below Lotta Studios.
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June 27: A Taste of Westville
Tour participants can sample two restaurants in New Haven’s Westville neighborhood: Manjares, where they can sample dishes from Chef Ana de los Angeles, and Pistachio, where they can enjoy coffee, tea and Middle Eastern sweets. The 1.5-hour tour starts at 4:30 p.m. and tickets are $50.
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The Fair Haven Oyster Club offers outdoor dining with views of the Quinnipiac River.
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June 29: Fairhaven Public Art & Food Tour
This 2.5-mile, two-hour walk will take you to Fair Haven Oyster Company, Salsa Authentic Mexican, La Morienda and Almada Brewery, and will take in murals and installations along the way. It will take place on June 29 at 3:30 p.m. and admission is $50.
