Eating well at the Eat Real Festival

We celebrated the waning days of August by indulging in some good, fresh, delicious street food Sunday at the second annual Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square in Oakland.  It was a foodie's paradise and, for us, just another reason we love life in the Bay Area.

Homeroom:
A delicious spin on
 macaroni and cheese

Eat Real is a social venture designed to inspire us to eat tasty and healthy food.  By wetting the appetite of thousands of foodies with small, affordable (everything was priced from $3 to $5) portions in a wonderful urban outdoor setting, filled with ample sunshine and a summer breeze, nobody went home hungry.

My wife and I certainly didn't.

The Eat Real Festival provided everyone who attended with an opportunity to support a lot of inspired culinary artisans. It was also a chance to learn about the craft of making food, and to sample a lot of tasty, fresh, handmade food ~ everything from fish tacos and paella to pork belly buns and gumbo.  Even vegan ice cream.

Food options at the East Real Festival were plentiful ~ there were nearly 100 different food vendors spread across the festival site ~ and in searching for something as common as a taco, one could choose many different variations, from Hawaiian to Indian to Korean.

BBQ pulled pork slider
and grilled sweet corn
from Jim 'N Nicks

During our two hours at the Eat Real Festival, we shared portions of falafel (Liba), BBQ pulled pork sliders and grilled sweet corn (Jim 'N Nicks), a chicken tikka masala burrito (Curry Up Now), macaroni and cheese (Homeroom) and cupcakes (Kara's Cupcakes). We also tasted wine from a local Oakland vintner (JC Cellars).  There were hydration stations that offered free cups of water.  Between us, we spent about $30.  Believe me, it was money well spent.

Kara's Cupcakes:
Fresh-baked, sustainable, yummy
cupcakes

While the Eat Real Festival is all about celebrating eating well, it's also about learning how to make some of the food that was showcased as well as growing it.  Throughout the three-day festival, there were demonstrations designed to highlight a "do-it-yourself lifestyle" as touted by the Eat Real website.

"Trailer Mac"
from Homeroom

For me, the highlight of attending the Eat Real Festival was the opportunity to savor a bit of good, classic comfort food from Homeroom, a new macaroni and cheese food venture that hopes to open a restaurant later this year in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood, serving ~ what else? ~ mac and cheese.  At Eat Real, the Homeroom crew served up a delicious helping of "Trailer Mac" consisting of two-year aged Spring Hill cheddar, sliced Prather Ranch hot dog, topped with crushed potato chips.

Like the rest of Eat Real, the mac and cheese at Homeroom was pretty awesome.