By Olivia Hesslein, News Correspondent.
An abundance of Boston’s best restaurant foods, freshly prepared local dishes and lip-smacking desserts will be available to patrons this fall at all of the area food festivals. Dishes prepared from local cuisines will be served, lectures on veganism will be given and jousting matches using marshmallow fluff will be held. There may just be something for everyone.
For those who can appreciate a good vegetarian meal, the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival will offer tasty alternatives to eating meat. It will be at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center at 1350 Tremont St. on Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. as well as Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Evelyn Kimber, chair of the organizing committee for the festival, said what she enjoys most about the festival is the variety of vegetarian foods offered there.
“[There will be] everything from hummus and tofu to exotic new products like [sunflower seed] based milk,” she said. “The diversity of the event draws in people who eat meat and people who don’t and introduces them to a whole new realm of food.”
Everything there – from taste testing to admission to parking – is free. There will also be speeches and various cooking demonstrations, including one from Terry Hope Romero, a vegan chef who will be tapping into her Latin roots at this year’s festival. Romero will give a demonstration on how to make vegan tamales stuffed with black beans and sweet potatoes at 10:45 a.m Oct. 29.
Freshly harvested produce, fish and other local goodies like beer and wine all crafted in the area will be available at the Boston Local Food Festival, put on by the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston, and held 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 1 on the Boston Waterfront at Fort Worth Channel.
Local restaurants, farm stands and brewers with everything from seafood to cupcakes will all be on hand to help celebrate the area’s healthy cuisine. Sample plates are $5, everything else – including demonstrations and musical performances – is free. The event will also feature a crop share where patrons who grow their own fruits or veggies can donate them to South Boston Grows, a local nonprofit that will distribute the crops evenly among needy families. There will also be a special “Seafood Throwdown” show with professional chefs, similar to the television show “Iron Chef” on The Food Network, will also take place.
For a more high-profile event, join Phantom Gourmet, a culinary television show that is the driving force behind several Boston-based food events every year, for its Phantom Gourmet Food Festival. This 21 and older festival will take place Sept. 24 on Lansdowne and Ipswich streets from noon to 4 p.m. Phantom has carefully selected a vast array of dishes that celebrate Boston’s food scene, from Finale desserts to Wagamama yakisoba to Dunkin’ Donuts’ apple cider (hot or iced).
Several nearby restaurants and bars, including La Verdad, Tequila Rain, Bill’s Bar, the House of Blues, Game On!, Bleacher Bar and The Landsdowne will be sponsoring parties and food specials in conjunction with Phantom Gourmet. This gourmet experience comes at the price of $50 per person at the event or $40 in advance.
Not all of this fall’s food festivals are based around lunch and dinner. Some, like the sixth annual “What the Fluff?” festival taking place in Union Square in Somerville Saturday, Sept. 24 from 3 to 7 p.m., are a little less conventional. In celebration of the invention of marshmallow fluff in Union Square in 1917, there will be fluff-themed games and contests, such as a Fluffernutter Relay and of course Fluff jousting. Treats like marshmallow cupcakes, s’mores, sandwiches, fluff-wild pizzas and even beet and carrot flavored marshmallows will be served.
“The Fluff Festival is meant to do something fun and different that connects to the vibrant history of Union Square,” Mimi Graney, a Union Square Main Streets employee, said.
For more information on the food festivals coming into town, visit their various websites. bostonlocalfoodfestival.com, foodfest.phantomgourmet.com, bostonveg.org/foodfest, and unionsquaremain.org/fluff-festival.
