Eat Real Festival a streetwise celebration of local food

The third annual Eat Real Festival, scheduled for August 27th - 29th, 2010 in Oakland's Jack London Square, is serving up a double portion of local food and fun this year by doubling the number of street food vendors and adding an Urban Homesteading demonstration zone to the celebration.

Founded in 2008 to promote local, sustainable, affordable, and delicious food, the Festival is a celebration of street food and artisan foods that contain local ingredients.

“Americans need and want better quality food at affordable prices.  At Eat Real we celebrate food that’s healthy, sustainably-produced and delicious.  That message found a big audience in 2009, when 70,000 people came out to Eat Real to celebrate real food with us,” said Anya Fernald, Eat Real Festival’s founder. “In 2010, we want to celebrate real food and the professionals who make it: the cheesemakers, butchers, tofu makers, coffee roasters and bakers.  We’d like to bring interest and attention to these ancient professions.”

Eat Real is a social venture business with a specific agenda: to educate people about the foods they eat; support a regional food system that brings farmers, food producers, and eaters together; and develop local food routes so urban dwellers have direct access to healthy, affordable foods.  Eat Real created the Festival to show how easy it can be to eat fresh and local foods and to highlight healthy food in all its delicious forms.  Party goers not only get to taste, they can learn how to make and grow their own foods as well!

This year the Festival plans to host 80 of the Bay Area's best street food vendors cooking their handmade food from "scratch" using fresh, local ingredients.  The offerings are as diverse as they are delicious: tacos, barbecue, falafel, pizza, flat-bread, Asian noodles, curry, pasta, pies, ice cream, chowder, and much more.

Food craft demonstrations will showcase the dazzling talents of some of the Bay Area's best food makers as they toss, pull, chop, stir, and knead fresh ingredients into foods with amazing flavor and visual impact.  And this year East Bay suburban and city dwellers will want to check out the Urban Homesteading Zone to learn the arts of chicken keeping, vertical gardening, beer and cheese making, bee tending, and canning and preserving.  Click here for a partial three-day schedule of events and demonstrations.  More events, activities, contests, and entertainment is in the works!

There is no entry charge and no cost to enjoy the music, films, and demonstrations at the Eat Real Festival.  Foods from the street vendors and artisans can be purchased for between $1 and $5, making this an affordable event for the whole family.

The Festival location is Jack London Square at the foot of Broadway at Embarcadero in Oakland.  It's fun and easy to get there by ferry, BART, bicycle, or by car.  Directions are available here.

A late August day in Oakland is sure to provide the best weather you can find anywhere.  Come out and enjoy the best things in life -  sun, fun, and food!