The Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of The American Institute of Wine and Food celebrates over 20 years of enhancing life in the DFW community by cultivating our members and our unique food culture through educational programs, important scholarships and fun social activities. Our membership is diverse but shares the common bond of being wine and food enthusiasts and professionals dedicated to enhancing the quality of life through education about what we eat and drink.

Our programs include Days of Taste®, a national AIWF initiative to educate elementary school children about the origins of their food, taking them from farm to table and introducing concepts of healthy eating.

The American Institute of Wine and Food is a national educational non-profit organization founded by Julia Child, Robert Mondavi, Richard Graff and others in 1981 dedicated to advancing the understanding, appreciation and the quality or wine and food.

 

The Dallas/Fort Worth chapter was founded five years later in 1986. Membership in the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter offers a wide variety of social and educational activities and volunteer opportunities.

The Dallas chapter, in partnership with the Dallas Farmers Market Friends, hosts quarterly series of chef-led cooking classes featuring renowned local chefs. Our Annual Caesar Salad Competition is a major Dallas food event and our largest fundraiser, with proceeds going to Days of Taste®, The AIWF/Chef Sevy (Jim Severson of Sevy’s Grill) Endowment Fund, and other of our scholarship programs. These encourage the development of local chefs with annual scholarships to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, as well as to local culinary schools. In addition, we offer our members social activities including late lunches and early seating dinners at local restaurants, wine tastings, winemaker dinners, winery tours, chef meet and greets, press parties, cookbook signings, social hours and holiday parties.

Donations for all of the DFW Chapter programs can be made by calling our Hotline at (214) 696-2493 or emailing Laura Werneke at cwerneke@verizon.net. Donations are a wonderful way to honor friends or loved ones – some donations provide recognition, special tickets, and/or other benefits to honorees for a gift of unparalleled uniqueness.

Membership in our chapter is open to all. It is a wonderful way to meet others with a common interest in food and wine. We encourage you to attend one or two of our events as a guest. See our monthly event calendar for a sample of what our chapter has to offer.

Leadership

Executive Committee

Laura Carr              Chapter Chair

Laura Roddy           Chapter Vice-Chair

Heather Hambrick   Secretary

Rod Hays               Treasurer  

 

Board Members

Laura Carr              Chapter Chair

Laura Roddy           Chapter Vice-Chair

Heather Hambrick   Secretary

Rod Hays               Treasurer  

Debbie McKeever     Restaurant Week/Savor Dallas Co-Chair

Kelly deKort           Restaurant Week/Savor Dallas Co-Chair

Meredith Meuwly     Communications Chair

Van Vick                 Membership/Merchandise Chair

Mary Ellington        Scholarships Chair

Harriet Levine         Cooking Class Coordinator

Debbie McKeever     Parliamentarian

 

Emeritus Board Members

Nancy Dedman

Carol Hall

Paula Lambert

Nancy Lemmon

Deborah Orrill

 

Chapter Administrators

Freda Ballas

Colleen Brainerd

 

 

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