Things I Love: The American Dream

On Saturday I went to The City to check out the San Francisco Street Food Festival, and I had a blast. The festival was a culinary celebration where food trucks from all over the country gathered on the streets of San Francisco to showcase high-quality, artisan dishes. I enjoyed interacting with the Food Truck owners, sampling a variety of multi-cultural fare, and seeing a huge support for this new food movement. I get really stoked when people proudly share their culture and their excitement for their quality craft.



The Food Truck Movement is the result of our struggling and sluggish economy. It is an example of how creative people turned their passion into successful business ventures. Rather then paying for restaurant space, these business owners took an alternate route and utilized Food Trucks as mobile restaurants. With the burden of rent eliminated, these innovators took Food Trucks to a higher level.

The use of a Food Truck allows the business owners and chefs to interact on a personal level with their consumers. This is something that really appeals to me. I enjoy hearing about how my meal was prepared, and learning about the local farmers who provide the products. For consumers, like myself, eating out is about "more" then just, well, eating. It's about being aware of the food I eat, experiencing new exciting flavors and learning about how the dish came to be.

We spoke to a women from Malaysia who told us she "Americanized" her curry chicken by serving it in buns. Her dish was an example of how the the influence of cultures can spark innovative dishes while still celebrating tradition.



Walking around the festival reminded me of being in another country, expect I was able to experience multiple cultures. I could watch a women make plantain pupusas and next to her was a man making pulled pork sliders. The variety of dishes from empanadas (I like to refer to them as pastry parcels) to Wax Moth Larve Tacos (unfortunately the line was too long and I didn't get to sample) was pretty extreme to say the least.



Seeing people turn their passion into successes really inspires me. It's experiences like this festival that remind me the American Dream can be achieved. Food Trucks, Etsy Stores and Blogging are all up and coming avenues that allow people to share their passion, and make their dreams a reality. Those are the kind of people and businesses I love to support and celebrate.


If you live in the Bay Area a similar food festival, Eat Real (which I attended last year) is happening next month in Oakland. I'll be there, so please let me know if you will be attending as well.
And for the rest of you, I encourage you to check out Food Trucks in your area, and to support your local businesses.
If you are a small business owner please leave a link in your comment. I would love to check it out.

Things I love: Eating Real Food

On Friday my friend Vanessa and I hit up the Eat Real festival in Oakland. The festival is focused on real, quality food. The festival's slogan is Putting the Food back into Fast. With food trucks an street food being all the rage these days Eat Real focuses on food that is cheap, healthy, quality and fast.
Vanessa and I had a fabulous time sipping and nibbling our way through the festival. We also had a wonderful time chatting with the festival volunteers and the owners and chefs of the featured businesses. Everyone was genuinely excited about food and was so friendly.

Mason jars served as glasses.

And of course real drinks to fill up the mason jars.
There were classes, demonstrations and live music.

There was lots of yummy wine, we sampled several of them. I loved the Philo Ridge Pinot Gris. I would have drank it but it was way too early for red wine.

Slider and Corn and Pimento cheese and sausage from Jim and Nicks. SO good!
Jim and Nicks is located in Alabama, Georgia, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and North & South Caroline. I would highly recommend checking them out.
The best pimento cheese I have ever had! YUM!

Can't touch this.

Loving it!

Polenta Pizza from Pizza Politana.
Quite possibly the best pizza I ever ate....and I was in Italy this summer!

Miss Carson, an eight year fashionista who had the most amazing necklace I have ever seen.
It was like a dollhouse on a necklace, it featured miniature cooking utensils.
She told me she got it in Mexico, but man, I wish I would love to wear this to a festival.

Creme freaking brulee. In a mason jar, none-the-less. These sold out, and it's no surprise because they were amazing!If ever in San Francisco, the Eat Cream Heat Creme Brulee should not be missed.

Let's Be Frank 100% Grass fed hot dogs.

Linden Street Beer and Anchor Steam Humming Ale, my new favorite beer.

Tikka Masala burrito From Curry Up Now, genius!

I just love food festivals, especially ones that focus on being green, local an healthy! It doesn't get any better then that!