Eat Real

I had a great time at the Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square in Oakland. So much so that I urge you to make some time to go check it out (and it might be cooler tomorrow.) The portions were sized for grazing, and the prices were all in whole dollar increments, and pretty reasonable. Each dish had to have at least one locally-sourced ingredient (which was called out on the sign for the booth) and the meats all seemed to be from Prather Ranch, Marin Sun, &c. I had

• a lobster roll (and the bun was the local part, but I am sinfully fond of lobster rolls)
• farinata (chickpea flatbread)
• grilled pimientos de Padrón
• a homemade s’more
• a pulled pork mini-sandwich
• a jar full of lemonade and a pickle (they came together, believe it or not)
• a scoop of mango sorbet

Rather a lot, really, when I come to write it all down, and don’t forget that I’m going to the Pie Ranch dinner tonight.

I also bought an endive root.

which I’ll have to figure out how to plant and keep alive. Here is a photo of the frying pimientos.

I met the folks from City Slicker Farms in Oakland, and those yummy peppers were from Happy Quail Farms in East Palo Alto, although I didn’t meet the farmers. There was also a table for Revolution Foods, but the table person was not there, and I soon became befuddled with delicious food and forgot to go back and talk to them.

On the way home, I decided we should somehow get these urban farms together for a meet up. Maybe at EcoFarm, maybe at Veggielution. But we should all be talking to each other.