Meet these Virginians who share their passion for
food, wine, history, music, adventure and life

Deborah Pratt
Watch her video

(Richmond, Va.) Virginians are passionate about food, especially regional delicacies found only in the Old Dominion. Case in point - oysters fresh from the Rappahannock River, worshipped each year since 1957 at the Urbanna Oyster Festival, in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay region. The festival's highlight - the oyster shucking competition, typically dominated by one little dynamo with a passion for prying.

Deborah Pratt from nearby Jamaica, Virginia has earned her living and hometown hero status by shucking oysters at superhuman speed. Foodies flock to the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival (November 7-8, 2008) to watch Deborah do her thing. Her superior skill with the bivalves has brought her around the globe as the four-time, oyster shucking champion of the world.

Deborah's passion for speed began at age 15, when her sister taught her how to shuck oysters. She's never looked back since. Deborah talks about life among the shells in her Portraits of Passion video on Virginia.org.

"Passion to me would be to be proud of yourself, who you are and how did you get from nobody to somebody," says Pratt as she sits along the Urbanna waterfront. "And how did an oyster - a simple, small oyster, take you around the world?"

Gems like Deborah Pratt are the stars of Virginia's food festivals, numbering in the hundreds statewide throughout the year, and celebrating food finds unique to Virginia.

Sample Virginia's true flavor at the Taste of Brunswick Festival and World Championship Brunswick Stew cook-off. This event pays homage to the birthplace of the fabled Brunswick Stew, Brunswick County in beautiful Southern Virginia each October.

Discover the allure of wild mountain ramps at the Whitetop Ramp Festival every May. This festival combines the unforgettable flavor of the wild leeks with authentic arts and crafts, old time mountain music and of course, a ramp eating contest.

Celebrate pure Americana at the Winchester Apple Harvest Festival each September. In the northern portion of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, this annual fall celebration determines the state's Apple Butter Making Champion and best apple pie baker in the region.

May brings thoughts of summer and the annual Virginia Seafood Festival in Chincoteague Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore. For over 40 years seafood lovers have headed to the shore's northern tip to indulge in local delicacies and homespun fun at this seaside celebration.

Travelers nuts about nuts know Virginia is peanut heaven. Virginia peanuts take center stage at numerous family festivals throughout the year, most notably at the Virginia Peanut Festival each September in Emporia and the Suffolk Peanut Festival in October, complete with a peanut butter sculpture contest.

Ready to dig into Virginia's food festival obsession? Go to www.Virginia.org/portraits to get Deborah Pratt's expert advice on oyster shucking and start planning a trip to Virginia.