People are going to think that I planned my vacation in Bend on purpose at this time to coincide with Bite of Bend, but I swear I did not. I only found out about it the weekend we arrived in Bend. And it just ended up that we were going to be back in Bend in time for the festivities. Bite of Bend is a local food festival. But really, it’s just an excuse to get drunk outdoors and eat street food. Aren’t all food festivals that? There were food vendors, sellers hocking their wares, live music, a beer and wine tent, and a top chef competition. This one vendor, who was selling sauces, was giving away 25 cent samples of pulled pork on tortilla chips with a little of their sauce on top. All we knew was, they were the cheapest, most filling, and delicious snacks there! We certainly got our $1 worth!

Sushi seems like a crazy thing to be trying to dish out at an outdoor food festival held during the summer. But we weren’t complaining. These ended up being really cheap too. It’d cost you a lot more to go to a restaurant, or even pick this up at a grocery store. And I felt quite comfortable with them being on ice.

The same spot also had little bites of appetizers too – crab cake and skirt steak.

Dumplings too!

Cheap, fresh, street sushi! Come and get it!

Bite of Bend actually was an all weekend affair, so on Saturday night, we did go in for a sneak peek. And since we were hungry for dinner, we did get some of this “thai” food. I’m not sure what about it made it so thai, that’s why I didn’t really consider it thai food. But I love me any street meat on a stick and a plate full of noodles.

Here they are grilling up the sticks. I always wonder what makes these suckers so orange/red. They’re not spicy, so where does the color come from and what purpose does it serve?

Speaking of thai, there were three thai vendors at Bite of Bend. That’s a lot, don’t you think?

Any good food festival has to have bbq, and we had a few here in Bend. Trails End BBQ came from the nearby town of Sisters, and had a pretty impressive setup. Another vendor had a much smaller rig, but they still had a nice pile of meat going on.

These people were selling sourdough scones with honey butter! They looked delicious!

And while there were fancy treats, there were standard treats as well. Little mini donuts! Definitely John Belushi’s favorite vendor of the entire festival!

Wurst, anyone? They even have curry ketchup!

Bend is also starting to have their fair share of food trucks (aren’t they all?). Spork was offering up this variety of options. $2 pork tacos! So cheap!

But the grossest thing we witnessed at Bite of Bend was this stuffed banana vendor. He would core out a hole in a banana and then stuff it with crazy things, like nutella or chick-o-stick. This was a level of decadence beyond me.

The kind people at Foodbuzz (–> I am a featured publisher!) held the inaugural Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival in san francisco this year. That was my other reason for going out there for this trip. On the first night, they had a street food fare at the Ferry Building. Street food… Ferry Building… put them together and it’s like a dream! There were tons of local vendors who let us grub on their fine grub. It was a nice variety as well, and everyone was super friendly. Even though we only ate little plates, I was beyond stuffed by the end of it. And yes, all this food was prepared on the site!
What’s a trip to sf without tacos? Beef, of course!
The food above is not only completely vegan, but also completely raw. Scary sounding, I know, but surprisingly tasty. The cheesecake was good, even though there was a slightly funny this isn’t real cheese taste. I still liked it!
The star of the evening… the porchetta sandwich from roli roti. What is it? Pork belly rolled into pork loin with crispy skin rotisseried the crack up, with fresh herbs, onion marmalade, and curly cress stuffed in between bread. Oh. My. Word. Yes, it is that delicious.
Delicious thin crust pizzas. Yes, the oven was there!
Freshly shucked oysters from Hog Island Oyster!
Mini meat pies! These ones were steak & gruyere. This was my second favorite of the evening!
Adorable little mini cupcakes of various flavors from Mission Minis. So cute and so tasty! You can even find these at whole foods in the sf area! Schmancy!
Freshly fried chicharrones. Ok, obviously, this wasn’t an event for the health conscious.
Ok, here’s one thing that was slightly healthy… vegetables! I had the beet salad which I loved. You heard it here people, I love beets! I love street food. I especially love it when it’s within one confined area so I don’t have to walk far between gourd stuffings.

After landing in Zurich, I hopped on a train to Basel, my actual destination. The train ride was fantastic. I’m not sure if you can eat on the trains (they’re freakishly clean and spotless), but I was doing it anyway. These are my most delicious digestives that I picked up in Ireland. And they have a layer of caramel. Amazing.
My friend A had told me that they sell roasted chestnuts on the streets of Switzerland. I got most excited when she told me this. Then when I saw it in person, my heart skipped a beat. When I lived in the motherland, we used to get roasted chestnuts from street vendors all the time. During the wintertime, of course. But you can’t really buy roasted chestnuts from street vendors in the US. If you can do that, please tell me where. And please make it somewhere near my home.
In any case, I love roasted chestnuts. If you’ve never had, you have to put a slice in them first before you roast them, otherwise, they’ll explode. The moisture in the nut heats up and steam up, and if there isn’t a place to release all the pressure, your little nut will explode. These are roasted from burning charcoal so they get nice and toasted and some even get some char marks. Because of the steaming, they’re super easy to peel. I love chestnuts. Don’t you?
You’ll also see carts for pretzels. They’re not like the ones from Philly! They taste similar, but the texture is completely different. Philly pretzels are dense and chewy. These are much more dry, more airy, and not chewy. I think I prefer the ones from home!