Taste Queens at Queens Taste!

The Queens Economic Development Corporation and lead sponsors Citi and Fairway Marketinvite you to Queens Taste 2012, the borough's premiere networking and culinary event. At least 50 restaurants and other food purveyors will provide delectables to more than 1,000 attendees, including some of the most powerful and best-connected Queens residents. The cuisine will feature everything from sweet to savory, Asian to Italian, and crunchy to creamy. But it will all be mouth-watering.

When: May 1, 2012
Where: Citi Field's Caesars Club 123-01 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing
Website: http://www.discoverqueens.info/queenstaste/about/

Green Festival New York

FestivalBuzz just got the paper version of the Green Festival's program, but you can check it out on their website . Just click on "schedules" to see the break down by stage or area of the venue. Just below, click "Event Guide" to get a digital version of the printed event guide.

Green is not the only theme. Activism is also healthily represented in the program, with talks on Occupying Wall Street to Urban Gardening to eating healthfully using food stamps.  Lots of green/natural/organic food and personal products are on display at the booths on the floor. The festival tries to be zero-emissions itself, and invites attendees to bring their own utensils as well as cell phones and batteries to recycle.

If you want to make a good impact on the environment but don't know how, this might be a good place to start. And yes, there will be music!

When: April 21-22, 2012
Where: Javits Center North (11th Ave btw 39th & 40th Streets)
Website: http://www.greenfestivals.org/nyc/updates/

Taste of Fifth

Another fabulous taste event is coming up  - this one for the Restaurant Row on Fifth Ave in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  The setting, Grand Prospect Hall - is one of the great ironies in Brooklyn - a beautiful old world baroque-style banquet hall (complete with courtyard featuring rushing fountain) overlooking the Prospect Expressway. Hey, at least it's easy to get to!  Come, eat!

When: April 18, 2012 6:30-9:30 PM
Where: Grand Prospect Hall - 263 Prospect Ave, Brooklyn
Website: http://parkslopefifthavenuebid.com/tasteof5th

Varli Indian Food Festival

 An annual Indian food, dessert and wine tasting event, the Varli Food Festival showcases the culinary creations of over 60 top-caliber restaurants and caterers, and promotes awareness of Indian cuisine and culture. World famous chefs will demonstrate their skills in crafting signature dishes, displaying first-hand the unique art of Indian cooking.

Tickets are pricy at $100 each, but the benefits are pretty cool:

• a FREE spice market allowing you to pick and choose Indian spices to take home and cook with
• a Celebrity Chef CookBook with recipes from each chef exhibiting at the event
• every festival attendee will receive a gift bag with $500 worth of gift certificates to local Indian restaurants
• a full open bar and wine kiosks
• several dessert stations 

 FestivalBuzz loves Indian food, and might be spotted here as well!

When: April 5, 2012 5-10PM
Where: Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street
Website: http://www.varlifoodfestival.com

Meatopia. Need we say more?

On the pricier side, but oh so delicious!  Meatopia has come off it's high horse on Governors Island to the large Pier 5 at Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Locally raised meat cooked by local chefs and paired with local beer.  Tasty.  Buy tickets because they will sell out. Pay more for a head start and a special place to sit and breathe.

When: July 23, 2011
Where: Pier 5, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Website: http://www.meatopia.org