Eat Real Festival 2011

food truck

This past weekend was the Eat Real Festival in Jack London Square. It featured food and drink from Bay Area producers, music, crafts, and a variety of food-related demonstrations, from cheese making to backyard chickens. With food trucks and vendors from all over the Bay Area, there was a lot to choose from.

I got a different look at things this year, as I volunteered to help with setup and beverage service. On Thursday I joined a bunch of other volunteers and some staff for a variety of setup tasks. We packed goody bags for volunteers, set up tables, moved several hundred pounds of flour, prepped signs and did a number of other odd jobs. It was interesting to see all the other prep work going on at the same time -- it's easy to forget how much preparation goes into a festival like this.

beer shed

On Friday, a different set of volunteers showed up early to learn the ins and outs of beverage service. After some training, some of us went to a beverage tent near the main stage, and others went to the main beer shed. The beverage tent was designed to be a quick-in, quick-out option, with a limited number of beer and wine choices. That seemed to work, as we never had long lines build up. (The main beer shed had 10 or so varieties of beer, 10 or so varieties of wine, as well as non-alcoholic drinks, so people had more decisions to make.) It was mostly fun, but it was definitely work, too.

After my shift was over, I wandered about checking out all the exhibitors and listening to the live music, and enjoyed watching people enjoying themselves. I wish I'd had room to sample more of the food and drink -- it looked and smelled wonderful. For some great photos from Eat Real, check out the post on Foodhoe's Foraging. Next year I'll definitely leave more time and energy to enjoy the festival myself.

More photos:

Eat Real Festival

More coverage:
Foodhoe's Foraging
Flickr photo pool