Food, Glorious Food

As the summer trails off into autumn, many communities around the country are celebrating the culture and heritage that shapes their local cuisine with food festivals. Here are just a few festivals and several food-related Web resources where you can find recipes, menus, cooking tips, even an online reservation service.

Bite - A Taste of Portland
Portland, Oregon
Aug. 11-13

Twenty local restaurants, 20 wineries and more than 75 national and regional bands will be on hand at this year's Bite - A Taste of Portland. Comedians, special features, kids' performers and fireworks are also part of the festival held in Portland's Waterfront Park. Produced by the Special Olympics Oregon, proceeds from Bite support the organization's athletes.

Bayou Boogaloo and Cajun Food Festival
Aug. 11 - 13
Norfolk, Virginia

Town Point Park in downtown Norfolk becomes the Louisiana Bayou for the Bayou Boogaloo and Cajun Food Festival. This year the main stage features national bands Buckwheat Zydeco, The Iguanas and Zydecoal. In addition to music, the festival includes Cajun delicacies such as steamed crawfish, jambalaya and plenty of hot peppers.

Bodega Bay Seafood Art and Wine Festival
Aug. 26 - 27
Bodega Bay, Calif.

Located in the heart of California's Sonoma Valley, the Bodega Bay Seafood Art and Wine Festival features a bountiful catch of local seafood plus wine and microbrew tasting. You can also check out booths of local art and crafts or catch an act at one of the three entertainment stages.

Vegetarian Food Fair
Toronto, Canada
Sept. 8 - 10

Now in its 16th year, the annual Vegetarian Food Fair is held at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre. The festival celebrates the joys and virtues of a vegetarian lifestyle with food concessions, cooking demonstrations, environmental awareness classes and other festivities.

Texas Cooking Online

For information about the food culture in the Lone Star State, try Texas Cooking Online. This site has recipes, cookbooks, cooking tips and articles about traditional Texas fare as well as chronological lists of the state's food fstivals and chili cook-offs.

Food and Wine Access.com

Visitors to Food and Wine Access can download a festival guide, a list of locations, dates and agendas of upcoming food and wine festivals around the world.

Menus Online

Covering 16 major cities in the United States, Menus Online allows users to search restaurants by cuisine, price, location and amenities. As its name suggests, it also provides a printable menu for many of the restaurants in its database.

Food and Wine.com

The Web version of the popular cuisine magazine, Food and Wine.com has articles, recipes, restaurant critiques and a search feature that helps you pick out the perfect wine for your budget and taste.

SavvyDiner.com

SavvyDiner.com has information on fine dining in more than 20 major cities in the United states and Canada. Users can browse through restuarant reviews and even make a reservation. Savvy will send your request to the selected restaurant and email you a confirmation.

Dine.com

At Dine.com, users can search by location using an area code or city, and browse through reviews posted by others.