(This story is sponsored by Dine Out Vancouver Festival.)

Exciting news: Dine Out Vancouver Festival is just around the corner. The hottest culinary festival in town has grown into the largest annual celebration of food and drink in the entire country since it launched 18 years ago.

While it may be best known for fixed-price dining deals, the fest offers a full menu to please every palate, from neighbourhood food tours to cooking classes to global guest-chef collaboration dinners.

From January 17 to February 2, 2020, more than 300 restaurants, plus wineries, breweries, and suppliers will take part in the most exciting culinary gathering of the year. Produced by Tourism Vancouver along with its Festival Partner, the Wines of British Columbia, the festival is a chance to celebrate community and share Vancouver’s extraordinary culinary story with the world.

Here is a taste of what’s in store for 2020.

The Great Big Taste

Kick off the festival at this grazing-style tasting event. A stellar lineup of top Metro Vancouver restaurants, along with BC wineries, craft breweries, distilleries, and cideries, will serve tantalizing samples while a DJ drops beats. The evening’s proceeds will benefit the fest’s charitable partner, the BC Hospitality Foundation, which supports hospitality workers facing financial crisis due to a health condition. Grab a LYFT and get a discount on your ride.

Vancouver World Chef Exchange

Four international chefs, four local culinary talents, four multicourse menus with beverage pairings: the exchange is a delicious cross-cultural collaboration. Presented by Tourism Vancouver and sponsored by Air Canada and the Westin Bayshore Hotel, the exchange has, since 2016, brought in chefs from Mexico City, London, and beyond. Among the highlights this year is an all-female cast: Chicha chef Shelome Bouvette hosts PEI chef Charlotte Langley for an East Coast meets West Coast seafood journey paired with wines by Naramata’s Joie Farms Winery winemaker Heidi Noble. Then there’s the Indigenous Off the Hook dinner. Salmon and Bannock, Vancouver’s only First Nations restaurant, hosts the all-star team of Maori chef Rewi Spraggon from Auckland, New Zealand and Edmonton-based Enoch Cree Nation chef Shane Chartrand.

Street Food City

Vancouverites love their street food, and for the ninth consecutive year, Vancouver’s most popular food trucks will convene in šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. The family-friendly event makes for a fabulous mid-winter outdoor picnic.

Dim Sum Chinatown Tour

Only offered during Dine Out, this Canadian Craft tour takes food lovers throughout historic Chinatown to a handful of the city’s most popular dim sum spots. The stroll includes a taste of Chinese barbecue and a traditional tea ceremony.

Coffee, Brunch, Donuts, and Beer Tour

Some might call those the four food groups. Travelling from place to place via the Vancouver Brewery Tours bus, you’ll get some behind the scenes java tasting at Agro Roasters, a full brunch at Red Truck Brewing’s truck stop, a beer flight at Brassneck Brewery, and a sweet treat at Cartems Donuts.

Farm in the City: B.C. Farm to Table

With B.C. farms being the source of so many different crops and topnotch products, it’s no wonder the field to fork movement keeps getting stronger. Get out your finest farm duds for this family-style gourmet pop-up curated by Chef Regina Lee of Gaia Kitchen (which is known for its artisan pies) and cohosted by Sweetery Café and Dessert. Duck raised without antibiotics, wild salmon, and organic vegetables are just some of the delicious local goods you’ll enjoy at this farm in the city.

Kona Coffee Hand Brew Workshop

Honolulu Coffee brings the tropics to your coffee cup with this tasting session, brewing demo, and hands-on experience making your own 100% Kona pour over. You’ll get to indulge in a house-made pastry with your final product.

Le Vieux Pin Winery Dinner at L’Abattoir

One of several winery dinners during Dine Out, this one sees iconic South Okanagan winery Le Vieux Pin at Gastown’s celebrated L'Abattoir restaurant for a five-course French via west coast menu. Exquisite wines will accompany dishes like ocean trout two ways and char-grilled pork rib with blackberry and sage.

Chinatown Dumpling Masterclass

After an insider’s peak of Chinatown, you’ll learn the secrets to making authentic dumplings from scratch. Dine on your creations and leave with a detailed recipe so you can impress your friends at home.

The Flying Pig’s Signature Pig Roast Dinner

There’s nothing like it on the local culinary calendar: a whole slow-roasted Gelderman Farms pig served with dishes like baked truffle jumbo macaroni, candied heirloom carrots, and roasted squash and Organic Kale Salad. It’s a feast centred on friendship and fun.

This is just a sampling of Dine Out Vancouver 2020’s delicious programming. For full details and tickets, click here.