Visit Syracuse teams up with TV chef Julie Taboulie to promote Syracuse to tourists

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — TV chef Julie Ann Sageer — better known by her on-screen name, Julie Taboulie — has partnered with Visit Syracuse to promote tourism to the Syracuse area.

The organization, formerly known as the Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau, made the announcement in a news release Wednesday.

Taboulie, a chef specializing in Lebanese and Middle Eastern cuisine, will visit Ottawa this coming weekend, April 11 and 12, with Visit Syracuse for the National Women’s Show, where she will give live cooking demonstrations and interact with fans.

“This show is the perfect introduction to our partnership,” Visit Syracuse President David Holder said in the release. “It is known to have an attendance of 20,000 people —most of whom are ecstatic to see Syracuse there every year.”

Then on April 13, Taboulie and Visit Syracuse will promote tourism to the Syracuse region during a private media reception in Ottawa being hosted by I LOVE NY. The reception is part of an initiative called the Canada Road Show to promote New York State tourism to Canadians, according to Nikita Jankowski, a Visit Syracuse communications manager. She says this is the second iteration of the Canada Road Show; the first was in 2013.

Taboulie’s partnership with Visit Syracuse developed when the tourism/convention promotion organization became the largest sponsor for her new cooking TV show, “Julie Taboulie’s Lebanese Kitchen,” according to Debra George, a public-relations representative for Taboulie. George says the show is expected to premier sometime this fall.

Holder told BJNN that Taboulie’s new show has been in the works since last summer when she brought the idea to Visit Syracuse and struck up a strong working relationship. “She could take her show anywhere in the world but she chose to stay and show off some of the diversity of Syracuse. She knows the value of our destination,” he said in the release.

Her previous food show was called “Cooking with Julie Taboulie,” and has aired on WCNY-TV along with some other PBS stations in New York state and around the country.

Taboulie is a Central New York native. She was born in Utica and moved to Syracuse with her family at age 6. A first-generation Lebanese-American, Taboulie’s shows focus on Lebanese and Middle Eastern cuisine. Her home is in Marietta, where she will film the studio portions of her upcoming program.

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