SOS Seafood Festival Announces Major Partnerships

HALF MOON BAY, CALIFORNIA (January 8, 2016) — SOS Seafood Festival: Sustaining Our Seas—the January 30 event honoring Half Moon Bay’s world-class fishing industry out of Pillar Point Harbor and shining a beacon on the sensitive state of our local seas and sea life—has forged a partnership among some of the most influential and innovative names in Bay Area food.

SOS festival attendees will experience a taste of Google’s famous epicurean ingenuity curated by the Google Food Team’s Teaching Kitchen Program Manager Liv Wu. A Coastside resident known for her “Seafood by the Season” column when she was a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle (byline Olivia Wu), she has orchestrated the SOS Festival’s Food Truck City—anchored by trucks from Google Food’s mobile fleet, including a whale-size BBQ rig—serving up specially developed SOS seafood recipes.

“The Google Food team is passionate about responsibly sourced food that is good for the environment as well as good for the employees that we feed,” says Wu, “and that includes seafood and the stewardship of the ocean and the fishermen who do the work of harvesting the seas.”

Bon Appétit Management Company, widely recognized as a pioneer in sustainable food sourcing, is the operator of Google’s NorCal cafes, and is a partner in the SOS festival.

“Having ‘sustainable food’ is dependent on a sustainable food system—renewable resources, making livelihoods in food economically viable, and feeding everyone,” says Helene York, Global Director of Responsible Business for Bon Appétit at Google. “Some communities are fortunate to have access to well-managed, small fisheries, and we buy a portion of our food from them. We also have an obligation to improve large-scale fisheries and aquaculture systems that a larger number of people depend on. Together, these resources both contribute to the greater good.”

Off the Grid, the driving force behind the cutting-edge food trucks seen at weekly markets across the Bay Area, will be on the SOS scene with a fanciful seafood truck serving its own ocean-driven creations.

Kerri Stenson, publisher and editor of award-winning Edible Silicon Valley magazine, together with Google’s Liv Wu, has curated an exceptional line-up of top chefs and authorities on seafood sustainability for the festival’s Seafood for Thought Chefs Pavilion.

Throughout the day in the Pavilion, chefs from renowned seafood restaurants will demonstrate preparations of seafood dishes while engaging in conversation with moderator Liv Wu of Google. At 1:00pm, the Pavilion stage will host a panel of ocean-science experts and seafood industry leaders, including a scientist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a restaurateur, a chef, a seafood retailer, and a representative of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association. Their lively conversation will offer a revealing look at ocean warming and sustainability and how it relates to the seafood chain, as well as the role of the restaurant industry and food-serving community in helping to shape the future of local seafood.

“I’m thrilled with the eager response we have gotten from such a talented and knowledgeable pool of Bay Area seafood chefs and experts,” says Stenson. “With this full day of cooking demos and commentary on seafood sustainability, procurement and preparation, we’ve put together a truly one-of-a-kind experience.”

The Google Food Team, Bon Appétit and Off the Grid will donate 100% of the food and labor costs for their SOS food truck offerings. Proceeds from food sales will benefit Mavericks Coastside Foundation, Cabrillo Education Foundation and other Coastside charities.

SOS Seafood Festival sponsors include Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, Mavericks Brewing Company, Miramar Events, Google, Bon Appetit, Off The Grid, Half Moon Bay Winery, Half Moon Bay Distillery, Barterra Winery, Edible Silicon Valley Magazine, Oceano Hotel & Spa, Vulcan Materials, Sam’s Chowder House, San Mateo County Harbor District, Republic Services, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch, Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau, San Mateo County/Silicon Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, Monterey Fish Market, KOFY TV 20, Half Moon Bay Review, The Graphic Works, San Mateo County/Silicon Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce, Fishline, Alifano Technologies, Coastside.net, Earth Circus Productions, HMB Media, Bliss Point Productions, A Festive Affair, Funista and Team Pro Event.

Your ticket purchase is a tax deductible contribution to Mavericks Coastside Foundation, a 501 C-3 organization, as allowed by law. The primary charitable beneficiaries are Mavericks Coastside Foundation and the Cabrillo Education Foundation.

Early bird, pre-sale ticket packages ($45 – good for one adult admission, a festival glass and three drink tickets) are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sos-seafood-festival-sustaining-our-seas-tickets-19672768781

Age 20 and under receive free admission but each person age 20 and under must be accompanied by an adult ticket holder.

Vehicle and bicycle parking are available in the large lot directly across the street from the event.

Pets are not allowed at the event.

The festival will take place rain or shine.

For information, call 650-728-2739 x207 or visit www.sosseafest.org

About SOS Seafood Festival: Sustaining Our Seas, Half Moon Bay, California

WHAT: SOS Seafood Festival: Sustaining Our Seas honors the Half Moon Bay area’s major fishing industry out of Pillar Point Harbor and will be held Saturday, January 30 (rain or shine) from 10 am to 5 pm in the vast outdoor lots surrounding Half Moon Bay Brewing Company overlooking the picturesque harbor in Princeton-By-The-Sea, the historic and funky fishing hamlet 4 miles north of Half Moon Bay. The SOS Seafood For Thought Chefs’ Pavilion will include celebrity chefs’ demos, talks on ocean warming and sustainability, the seafood chain, and the role of the restaurant industry and food-serving community in helping to shape the future of local seafood. Chefs and speakers will be curated by the Google Food Team led by Teaching Kitchen Program Manager Liv Wu and award-winning Edible Silicon Valley Magazine led by Publisher and Editor Kerri Stenson. The festival includes food trucks, some from the fantastic Google Food team, serving fabulous fresh, sustainable seafood and other incredible edibles in SOS Food Truck City, colorful SOS Beverage Bistros sprinkled throughout the event will feature a variety of local award-winning wines from Barterra Winery and Half Moon Bay Winery, world-class small batch craft beers from Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and unique SOS specialty cocktails from Half Moon Bay Distillery. The SOS Mavericks Concert Stage, located amidst a magnificent grove of Monterey Cypress trees, will feature a stellar lineup of all-day headliner entertainment featuring The House Rockers, Mustache Harbor, Rumbache and The Lady Crooners. The SOS Cool Coastal Marketplace will offer ocean-inspired arts and crafts, booths by local surf and watersports businesses plus ocean advocacy groups with exhibits and information on marine life, fisheries and sustainability. The world-renowned Earth Circus will wow festivalgoers with a stunning repertoire of performance artistry – amazing stilters, fascinating acrobats and jugglers and unique facepainting. Kids will flip for the fun and games in the free-admission Fin-Tastic Funzone in the Field of Dreams lot across the street with a high-flying zip-line, super thrilling bungee jump, wild and wacky waterballerz, rock climbing wall, entertainment, fun and games. Organizers of the Half Moon Bay Crab Fest recast their 2016 event as the SOS Seafood Festival as a result of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s emergency ruling to delay the opening of the commercial crab season due to high levels of domoic acid and all the uncertainty surrounding the season. SOS is the international Morse code distress signal being highlighted in our event name to call attention to the current state of ocean life and our need to address and remedy it. The primary charitable beneficiaries are Mavericks Coastside Foundation and the Cabrillo Education Foundation. The festival will take place rain or shine.

WHEN: Saturday, January 30, 2016; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (will be held rain or shine)

WHERE: Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, 390 Capistrano Rd., Half Moon Bay CA

INFO-LINE: 650-728-2739 X 207

WEBSITE: https://SOSseafest.org

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/sosseafest/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/sosfesthmb

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/SOSfestHMB/

TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sos-seafood-festival-sustaining-our-seas-tickets-19672768781