Meet Mike Lewellen at the Grand Tasting, the centerpiece of the week-long Santa Barbara Culinary Experience, involving more than 60 individual events from May 11-18, including dinners, farm tours, and cooking classes.

The mission of the organization, which serves as the West Coast face of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, is to highlight the food, drink, and farming bounty of Santa Barbara County. Proceeds raised throughout the week are shared with other agricultural/educational/food-focused nonprofits in the community. This will be the fifth year of the experience, and perhaps the biggest one yet.