Life is Beautiful Festival Expands 2014 Culinary Programming With World's Best Chefs and More

Visitors to the second annual Life is Beautiful Festival (Oct 24-26) will enjoy three days of exciting pop-up events, intimate culinary demonstrations and hands-on appearances by some of the world's best chefs. Life is Beautiful's culinary program is unlike any other multi-day festival in the country, with a laser focus on providing the best food and beverage experience possible, with food created by real chefs and drinks crafted by true bar professionals. Here is a look at what guests can expect to dig into this year. Eat, drink and be merry.

Sunny Day by José Andrés

Indulge in delicious, dramatic cooking and join celebrated chef and food-issues advocate José Andrés at the Sunny Day solar kitchen, a tribute to his charity organization World Central Kitchen. Located across from the Huntridge Stage, Chef Andrés and his culinary team will showcase the art of cooking everyday food with the power of the sun. As culinary ambassador for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Chef Andrés brings together more than 30 solar kitchens to prepare a selection of tacos, using clean, safe and efficient cookstoves that offer an alternative to cooking with fuel such as wood or charcoal. The solar kitchen units will be provided courtesy of GoSun Stove (www.gosunstove.com) and SolSource from One Earth Design (http://www.OneEarthDesigns.com), creative leaders in the solar cooking industry.

Craft Beer Garden

Savor top-notch beer varietals at the Craft Beer Garden, situated at the Ambassador Stage. Guests will be able to choose from 12 craft beers including Stiegl Grapefruit Radler, Tenaya Creek Oktoberfest, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale and Green Flash Hop Head Red to name a few. Plus, there will also be 10 restaurant booths (including Lulu's Bakery and its homemade soft pretzels) and six food trucks right nearby to grab great food to accompany a guests' cold beer.

Culinary Villages

The popular Culinary Village experience will be multiplied and integrated more seamlessly into the overall festival footprint - featuring four culinary villages installed at each of the festival's four main stages - providing spectacular vantage points while enjoying gourmet food. Guests will be able to enjoy the best local restaurants that Las Vegas has to offer. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options will also be available throughout the festival.

Cocktail Program

Guests will be able to imbibe a wide-selection of curated, handcrafted pairings of beer, wine and spirits from some of the world's most distinguished mixologists, wine makers and brewers courtesy of Wirtz Beverage. Unlike the average music festival, guests will be able to choose from over 55 specialty cocktails and over 20 craft wine and beer selections.

Chefs on Stage

Located in the heart of the footprint, taking place on the existing stage in the Container Park, guests will be able to get up close and personal with some of the top culinary talent in the country as chefs showcase their creative process and skills in a complimentary live demonstration at Chefs on Stage. Madison Cowan is back as this year's Emcee and there will be four chef segments on Friday, five chef segments on Saturday and three chef segments on Sunday. The chef lineup for this intimate demonstration experience include Cat Cora, Eric and Bruce Bromberg, Spike Mendelsohn, Scott Conant, Rick Moonen, Jet Tila, Sam Marvin, Duff Goldman, Hubert Keller, Marc Forgione and Bryan Forgione, Nancy Silverton and Jonathan Waxman, and Donald Link.

VIP Offerings

The rock-n-roll cuisine that Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas has to offer is only available for purchase by those who have VIP wristbands. Located at the Downtown Stage, guests will be able to enjoy various signature dishes including Potato & Onion Knish, Egg Shooters and world-renowned Bromberg Brothers' iconic Fried Chicken wings celebrated on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," just to name a few. Guest can also soak up a true Cajun experience with a Crawfish Boil with choice of crawfish, shrimp, or The Royale with all the fixings served with corn, Creole sausage and potatoes.

The lineup of culinary talent participating in this year's festival includes: Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg (Blue Ribbon, Brooklyn Bowl - Board Co-chairs), Scott Conant (Scarpetta - Board Member), Hubert Keller (Fleur by Hubert Keller - Board Member), José Andrés (minibar by José Andrés), Cat Cora (Co-Founder of Chefs for Humanity - Board Member), Nancy Silverton (Mozza Restaurant Group), Spike Mendelsohn (Good Stuff Eatery), Marc Forgione (Restaurant Marc Forgione, American Cut), Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto NYC, Adele's Nashville - Board Member), Duff Goldman (Charm City Cakes), Rick Moonen (RM Seafood, Rx Boiler Room - Board Member), Kim Canteenwalla (Honey Salt, Buddy V's, Made.LV - Board Member), Jet Tila (Kuma Snow Cream, Pakpao Thai - Board Member), Donald Link (Cochon, Herbsaint, Butcher, Peche - Board Member), Mary Sue Milliken (Border Grill Restaurants & Truck - Board Member), Susan Feniger (Border Grill Restaurants & Truck - Board Member), Frankie Pellegrino Jr. (Rao's Restaurant Group), Shawn McClain (Sage and FIVE50 Pizza Bar at ARIA), Sam Marvin (Echo & Rig), Bryan Forgione (Buddy V's), Mike Minor (TruckUBarbeque), Madison Cowan (Madison Cowan LLC) and more.

Tickets for the 2014 Life is Beautiful Festival are on sale now at www.lifeisbeautiful.com.

About Life is Beautiful - Life is Beautiful is an inspirational company dedicated to helping people conquer their fears and chase their dreams. Its signature project, the Life is Beautiful Festival was founded in 2013 and launched in October of that same year as a highly successful lifestyle event featuring marquee musicians, chefs, artists and speakers. Held in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas, Life is Beautiful Festival attracted more than 60,000 patrons in its first year, and is now branching out to an international online forum for social change. For more information on the company's projects and the latest festival news, visit www.lifeisbeautiful.com, or connect with Life is Beautiful socially at Facebook.com/LIBFestival, Twitter.com/lifeisbeautiful, Instagram.com/lifeisbeautiful and YouTube.com/user/LifeIsBeauitful.

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