Food Vendors Caught on Camera
Tuesday, 18 October 2011 04:45
The Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival was a huge success. Food vendors, artists, non-profit organizations, music, demonstrations, and more filled the streets of downtown Tucson from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16.
And although there was so much to do and see, much of it got lost somewhere between one food booth to the next. With so many different ethnicities and nations representing themselves with clubs here in Tucson, it was a chance for everyone to come out and show southern Arizona that we truly are a diverse region, with so many different cultures hidden within our "southwestern" façade. It is true that festival-goers were able to experience the many different cultures presented and interact with a wide variety of people.
It is also true that the festival felt much more like its frequent nickname, “Tucson Eat Yourself.” I know I am guilty of being distracted by the various smells, sights and sounds coming from the booths, because I, like many have a tremendous appreciation for different cultures and lifestyles, especially when it comes to food. After spending four months in Europe, I have really branched out with discovering new foods I like and dislike, and come across things I never knew existed. I love to try new things (vegetarian of course) and learn new recipes- cook, bake, dip, whatever it may be.
I am sure even if you are not as big a “foodie” as I am, you would have had a slight inkling to go try something, whether you know you like it, it just looks good, or you want to venture outside of your comfort zone.
With all of these distractions, my grumbling stomach, and the intense Saturday afternoon heat, my classmate Farren and I decided that learning more about the food vendors in addition to the ones we had already assigned ourselves would be a great idea. That is where all the crowds seemed to be anyway, so we tried talking to people at a few different booths that we were interested in. So this is where we ended up, which you will see in the video below:
Eating Paella from the Club Espana de Tucson, Pad Thai from Thai Tucson, and authentic Turkish bread from the Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue.
Farren also went back to her roots (on her father's side) and grabbed some pierogies and potato latkes from the Lajkonik Polish Club.
On our way out we ran into the “Flavors without Borders.” They are run out of a local farm out in Patagonia and the owner Gary Nabhan, who is also the Co-founder for Native Seeds Search and a faculty member at University of Arizona, has a seed and taco stand that travels around seeing what tacos people like the best and what tacos mean to them. This idea is still new to them, but at the festival they were doing a photo collage of everyone who would write what a taco means to them, and then pose for the camera.
Written by Kelsey Merkel You are reading Food Vendors Caught on Camera articles
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