This Friday evening, I'm participating in the Lit Fest at the 2010 Eat Real Festival. There are about a dozen writers invited to talk about street food at the Oakland event that spans 3 days. The Eat Real Festival is kinda like the Woodstock of food. It's free too!
Friday night's theme is Street Food. I'm in the 7 to 9pm line-up with some buddies of mine as well as other writers and chefs whose work I admire: Pim of Chez Pim, John Birdsall of SF Weekly, Rachel Saunders of the Blue Chair Fruit, Gustavo Arellano of Ask a Mexican, Anamika Khanna of Kasa Indian, Richie Nakano of Hapa Ramen, Sara Deseran of 7x7 magazine, and David Boyk of California Taco Trucks.
The other themes cover making, growing, and finding food (Saturday), and food storytelling (Sunday). All the Lit Fest events happen on the second floor of the Harvest Hall of Jack London Square. See more details at the Eat Real Fest site.
Back to the photos. Preparing for my 10-minute talk (it's short but has to be potent!), I reflected on street food that I've enjoyed during my time in Asia and America.
The images above are from my travels spanning 2003 to 2010. Use the "Notes" function to see my descriptions and comments for each photo. There are about 24 photos here and they're helping me ponder issue such as:
- What is street food?
- What is Asian street food? Is it different from others?
- How can we get good street food all over America?
Your thoughts?
Instead of gawking at street food photos, you can always make some. Here are few Asian street food recipes on my two sites:
Viet World Kitchen
- Master Banh Mi Recipe
- Thai Grilled Chicken Recipe (Gai Yang)
- Green papaya salad with beef jerky (Goi Du Du Kho Bo)
- Beef in Wild Betel Leaf (Thit Bo Nuong La Lot)
- Taiwanese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (Niu Rou Mian)
- Beef Pho Noodle Soup (Pho Bo)
- Chicken Pho Noodle Soup (Pho Ga)
- Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh Noodle Soup)
Asian Dumpling Tips
- Steamed Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Buns (Bao)
- Japanese Octopus Dumpling Balls (Takoyaki)
- Portuguese Egg Tart (Poh Taht, Pasteis de Belem)
- Japanese Braised Pork Belly Buns
