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With this summer’s FIFA World Cup fitting neatly into the 20th anniversary of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, much has been written about how much the city has changed over the past three decades.  Whether that’s the creeping expansion of the city’s suburbs, the explosion of development along the Beltline, new towers sprouting up across midtown or the overhaul of downtown’s long-neglected city center, Atlanta in 2026 would be nearly unrecognizable to a resident waking up from their mid-90s coma.

Running alongside the city’s physical transformation has been the total evolution of the city’s dining scene.  If the ’96 Olympics were Atlanta’s coming out party on the world stage, the city’s food scene lagged years behind the country’s coastal cultural centers.  A smattering of steakhouses and Italian restaurants propped up the fine dining scene, while underneath it were the big brand chains leaning on food wholesalers like Sysco and US Foods.

Buford Highway was a tucked away gem that only the most plugged in of foodies even knew to visit, and sushi was still an unknown, exotic delicacy exiled to the odd strip mall.

As with all revolutions, it was a small group of individuals who got the ball rolling.  Familiar names like Kevin Rathbun, Pano Karatassos and Gerry Klaskala opened restaurants that spearheaded the ‘farm-to-table’ movement, introducing the Atlanta dining scene to locally grown produce, whether that was poultry, peanuts – or better yet – peaches.  And alongside those pillars came food festivals, like Peachfest, where forward-thinking chefs connected with local suppliers to connect the industry, and their customers, to the ag community.  

Brady Lowe of Taste Network tells JMO that the mid-2000s where when things really started to change.  “People started to get really into where their food was coming from.  And all of a sudden it wasn’t a talking point or a buzzword, it became another foundation block… The question became ‘Where are we getting our food and how do we tie the whole community together?'”

As Atlantans’ palates developed, restauranteurs grew with them, exploring Georgia more and more to source local ingredients and develop ever-evolving menus that would drag the city closer to the forefront of the country’s dining scene.  Today, the city has eight Michelin-starred restaurants, another seven “recommended,” and an entire extra list of Bib Gourmand selections, noted for “great food at a great value.”

PeachFest is born

In the mid-2010s, right as Georgia’s dining evolution was in full swing, Lowe saw an opportunity for an event that would bring chefs, farmers, and interested diners together all in one place.  “I started to notice that all these chefs were going crazy for peaches during the summer,” he tells JMO.  “We had this very small window, this very finite resource, and everybody was trying to get in on it.”

Through his company, Taste Network, Lowe founded PeachFest, turning Georgia’s iconic stone fruit into the centerpiece of a festival that traces its path from Middle Georgia farms all the way to the back doors of the state’s finest restaurants and out onto the table in pastries, salads, and cocktails.  He connected with John Short and Pearson Farm, one of the state’s premier peach growers, and then to chefs from cutting edge restaurants like Miller Union and Rathbun’s who were actively buying and cooking with local peaches.  So not only does the event celebrate the local farm to table supply chain, it strengthens it.

“My question was how do we take this special, amazing signature fruit for the state, and follow its tracks through the back door of every single kitchen to the guests, to the table… What is the red thread from where that peach is born to its highest apex of appreciation,” says Lowe.

This year PeachFest moves into shiny new digs in Underground Atlanta, taking advantage of the World Cup hype that has invigorated downtown, drawing in hundreds of thousands of visitors excited to soak in the international experience.

In addition to the chefs putting peaches into dishes you’ve probably never considered, 20 of the city’s top bartenders will compete to see who can make the best peach cocktail.  The winner may get $1,000, but the real winners are the guests who get to taste cocktails made by some of the finest mixologists in the South.

“If you’re into it, it’s a peach geek’s paradise, says Lowe.”  “You can try 13 different types of peaches right here in one setting.  Where else does that happen?”

PeachFest takes place this Sunday, July 12th at 4:00pm at Underground Atlanta.  Tickets are still available HERE, but be quick, if there’s two things Georgians love it’s peaches and parties.