Here’s a good reason to drive to Denver on Saturday: the Denver Food & Wine Classic Grand Tasting.The huge festival takes place at Metropolitan State College from noon to 4 p.m. Besides the more than 400 wines, spirits and food samples from Denver’s top chefs, there’s a slew of national cookbook authors coming to sell and sign their books.The booth where the authors will be is sponsored by the Colorado Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, of which I’m a member.Les Dames d’Escoffier is a worldwide philanthropic society of professional women in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality. We also support community programs or other women in the culinary field with grants and scholarships.One of the main ways the Colorado chapter raises money for worthy causes is by selling “Cooking With Les Dames d’Escoffier: At Home With the Women Who Shape the Way We Eat and Drink,” which will be featured at our booth. The book is a collection of recipes from members from the 27 chapters across the United States and Canada, including recipes from culinary headliners such as Julia Child, Alice Waters and Anne Willan. It was nominated as a finalist in the Compilations category of the 2009 IACP Cookbook Awards.Several Les Dames members will be at the booth selling and signing their own cookbooks, too. Buy the Les Dames cookbook and an author’s cookbook and have the author sign them both.Visit denverfoodandwine.com to purchase tickets to the event, which cost $60.Other authors and Les Dames members who will be at the event include:• Shirley O. CorriherWho can forget Corriher as the “Mad Scientist” on the “Good Eats” TV show. Her book, “CookWise,” was the James Beard Foundation Award winner for Best Reference and Technique Book of 1997 and has sold more than 300,000 copies. Her new book, “BakeWise,” also won the James Beard Foundation Award for Baking. Corriher received the honor from Les Dames d’Escoffier of being named Grande Dame, an award received by Julia Child, M.F.K. Fisher, Anne Willan and other famous women of the food world. Corriher is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier Atlanta Chapter.• Susan PurdyPurdy is the prize-winning author of 30 books. Her latest cookbook is “Pie in the Sky: 100 Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Breads, and Pastries Home-Tested For Baking at Sea Level, 3,000, 5,000, 7,000, and 10,000 Feet and Anywhere in Between.” Purdy is a member of the Les Dames d’Escoffier New York Chapter.• Beverly CoxCox is the food editor of Native Peoples Magazine and a former food editor and director of food styling for Cook’s Magazine. She holds a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and apprenticed with Gaston LeNôtre. She has written 13 cookbooks. Her most recent book is “Eating Cuban, 120 Authentic Recipes from the Streets of Havana to American Shores.” Cox is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier Colorado Chapter.• Rebecca RatherRather has been the proprietor of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café in Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country since 1999. Her new cookbook, “Pastry Queen Parties: Entertaining Friends and Family, Texas Style,” will be released in October. Rather is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier San Antonio Chapter.• Jerry Anne Di VecchioDi Vecchio, a San Francisco-based food-wine authority and writer, and Francoise Kirkman, artist and designer, are co-authors of “You’ve Got Recipes.” Di Vecchio, Food and Wine Editor for Sunset magazine for over four decades, wrote dozens of Sunset cookbooks. Di Vecchio was cofounding president of the San Francisco chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier.• Bethenny FrankelShe is the Celebrity Natural Food Chef, creator of the popular Skinnygirl Margarita, and New York Times best-selling author of “Naturally Thin.” She is not a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier.—Farney appears Tuesdays on KOAA’s Comcast Channel 5 at noon.

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