About Devour!
Devour! The Food Film Fest is the largest food film festival in the world. The annual week-long festival is a transformative food and film experience combining cinematic excellence with 100+ events, celebrated filmmakers, and high-profile chefs from around the globe. The festival welcomes 15,000 food and film lovers. It has become a destination for celebrities and notable chefs including Anthony Bourdain, Phil Rosenthal, Jacques Pépin, Gabrielle Kreuther, Dominique Crenn, Chuck Hughes, Sam Cass, Michael Städtlander, Normand Laprise, Michael Smith, Gordon Pinsent, Jason Priestley, Lidia Bastianich, and Bill Pullman. Each year, top chefs from across Canada and around the world collaborate on special dinners inspired by films.
Devour! The Food Film Fest is back for its 15th anniversary, and this year, we’re bringing Montréal’s world-famous culinary scene to Wolfville! From October 20-26, 2025, prepare for a week-long celebration of food, film, and flavour featuring Michelin-starred chefs, award-winning filmmakers, and exciting new talent. In addition to our galas, culinary workshops and films, we have added three new events and will showcase Montreal musicians throughout this year’s Festival.
The festival's finely curated program highlights current food trends and issues, farming, sustainability, and the impact of current food systems on our lives.
Devour! challenges people to think differently and create a deeper connection to food. The festival’s finely curated program highlights current food trends and issues, farming, sustainability, and the impact of current food systems on our lives. Festival-goers delve deep into the world of food through original one-of-a-kind experiences. These include 50+ films at our host cinema The Al Whittle Theatre, the Chefs and Shorts Gala, Celebrity Chef Dinners, as well as culinary workshops, farm and foraging tours, Bourbon Brunches, the Chowder Smackdown, Le Tour de l’Acadie bike ride, the Great Devour! Chicken Community Supper in support of regional food banks, an outdoor market and street food rally, and so much more.
Devour! The Food Film Fest is managed by festival organizers Michael Howell and Lia Rinaldo. Devour! is overseen by an executive board and advisory council of key film, business, and culinary partners. Public sector partners—such as Telefilm Canada, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism & Heritage—have joined the festival’s founding partner, Slow Food Nova Scotia, in support of the event. Over the past five years, the number of festival partners has tripled, including CBC as the official media partner.
Devour! takes place in Wolfville, in Nova Scotia’s Kings County, one hour from Halifax. Known as the agricultural heartland of the province, the area is home to a thriving wine industry and a warm, hospitable community with a longstanding farm-to-table ethos and home to the Grand Pré National Historic Site. A rich cultural landscape infuses the region and its people with respect for the surrounding riches. No place could be more fitting to explore our relationship with food.
Devour! has grown steadily since its inception. Box office numbers continue to climb on a yearly basis (from 1,000 attendees in 2009 to 14,463 in 2019). Devour! has also garnered worldwide media attention with articles in The Hollywood Reporter, enRoute Magazine, Screen International, USA Today, Saveur Magazine, The Daily Meal, and Reader’s Digest. Devour! has been recognized as a national culinary, hospitality, and tourism trailblazer and named a Canadian Treasure by the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts (CHCA) at George Brown College. Previous awards include the prestigious Gary MacDonald Culinary Ambassador of the Year Award at the Taste of Nova Scotia Prestige Awards.
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Michael Howell, Executive Director
Michael Howell is the Founder and Executive Director of Devour! The Food Film Fest in Nova Scotia, Canada. For almost 30 years Michael has been a leading chef across Canada, The United States and The Bahamas. Michael hosts food and wine inspired travel to Italy through Tempestuous Culinary and is currently the consulting Executive Chef at The Green Turtle Club and Marina in Abaco, Bahamas. From 2003-2013, Michael owned and operated Tempest, an award-winning restaurant in Wolfville, NS. Michael has twice cooked at New York’s prestigious James Beard House as featured chef. His cookbook, Atlantic Seafood, was runner up at the 2010 Taste Canada awards and was recently re-released in 2021 with an updated second edition.
Deeply committed to Slow Food (he is the former Co-Chair of Slow Food Canada) and global food literacy, Michael was named a winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2011 for his contributions to improving the food system for all. He was the Nova Scotia Local Food Hero in 2010 and named Taste of Nova Scotia’s Culinary Ambassador (along with business partner Lia Rinaldo) in 2015. Devour! was awarded the 2017 Canadian Treasures award for Innovation in Hospitality by The George Brown Centre for Culinary Arts and in 2018 was awarded the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia Culinary Ambassador Award. A graduate of Dalhousie University (BA 1983), Michael also served on the Board of Taste of Nova Scotia and is the former president of the Restaurant Association of NS.
Lia Rinaldo, Managing Director
Lia Rinaldo brings over 30 years of experience in the film industry, coupled with a strong passion for food culture, to her role as Managing Director at Devour!. Her journey began as a teenager at Wormwood’s Dog & Monkey Cinema, where she cultivated her love for storytelling through film. She further honed her skills as an event manager and curatorial programmer at the Atlantic Film Festival, creating memorable experiences for audiences over two decades.
Lia's dedication to culture and culinary arts has earned her numerous accolades, including the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia Crystal Tourism Award of Excellence Ambassador Award, the Taste of Nova Scotia Gary MacDonald Culinary Ambassador Award, the Canadian Treasures Award for Innovation in Hospitality from The George Brown Centre for Culinary Arts, the Progress Women of Excellence Award in Arts & Culture, and the Chronicle Herald Arts & Life Honour Roll. In addition, as a freelance food & travel writer, she has contributed to publications such as Eat North, Curated Magazine, Occasions Magazine, and North American Traveller; she also serves as a critic and judge for top global restaurant rankings.
Devour! Board of Directors
Kevin Landry, Chair
Blair Cook, Treasurer
Nan MacDonald, Secretary
Glenn Munro
Tyler Cameron
Diana Dibblee
Johana Eliot
Janelle Poole
Martha Reynolds
Jeanne Saulnier