Find a hot new chef in San Diego. Check out a wine festival on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Discover the authentic cuisine of Wales. Or get your fill of all the beer you can drink at Munich's Oktoberfest . You enjoy the unexpected when you travel to eat.
Vancouver Island is throwing a big party to celebrate the wines and foods of British Columbia's Cowichan Valley. The second annual festival includes wine tastings, cooking demonstrations and tastings, silent auctions, musical events, and art shows. Among the highlights will be a wild salmon barbecue, a blackberry and chocolate extravaganza, and apple pressings and hayrides. Visitors can try their skill at wine crushing when teams compete to press grapes and strain juice in the shortest amount of time. Events vary from free to $95 for some restaurant dinners.
888-842-7245. www.wines.cowichan.net.
Wales may not be on your culinary radar, but the farmers and producers in this idyllic corner of Britain want to introduce travelers to the ``True Taste Movement." Chefs will demonstrate the hearty local dishes of Wales at the Abergavenny Castle , using leeks, beets, tomatoes, lamb, seafood, and as a festival press release says, ``more kinds of potatoes than you knew" existed. Local cheeses, such as the famous Caerphilly made nearby , will be tasted. One hundred market stalls will showcase Welsh products, and there will be hands-on workshops for children. Entrance is free; there are small fees for some events. www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com .
The name Oktoberfest would seem to name the month the famous festival occurs. Not here in the capital of Bavaria. The Lord of Munich will open the first barrel, and then the beer will flow. Parades of brewers and bar owners, beer tents with the best of the 6 million kegs that will be tapped over the 17-day festival, and sausages galore will all be part of the fun. Food stalls, entertainment, carnivals, and music round out the gaps between beer drinking.
www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Oktoberfest/7548/index.html.
San Diego seems to attract conventions and business meetings the way Hollywood does movie stars. But it's not the location you might think of for dining glory. The Hotel Del Coronado is trying to counter that by adding a glittering star to its new restaurant. Jason Shaeffer, who last was opening sous chef at Thomas Keller 's Per Se in New York, has been named chef de cuisine. He's creating such dishes as herb-crusted Pacific halibut with summer truffles and sweet corn ragout , buffalo ricotta gnudi with warm heirloom tomato and basil salad, and Muscovy duck confit with shell bean ragout, Italian kale , and garlic sausages. Entrees $27-$40.
619-522-8490. www.hoteldel.com/dining/1500ocean.asp. Contact Alison Arnett at arnett@globe.com. 
