A (Food) Festive Weekend: Soy Good!
So much to taste this past weekend—so little stomach space. And so little time on a Sunday afternoon before the food runs out, the tables get broken down, and the crowds thin. As we tipped you off to in our Weekly Feed, eaters had the chance to eat their way through Taste of Arlington , Taste of Wheaton, and a local church’s 2009 International Vegetarian Food Fair on Sunday, all with a decidedly different feel and flavor profile.
The Vegetarian Food Fair is an annual event put on by the Capital Memorial Church, a Seventh Day Adventist congregation in Van Ness; church doctrine recommends a vegetarian diet. The event is a celebration of that diet and how it manifests itself in the cuisines of the world. Church members, spread out across five regionally themed rooms, had prepared and were dishing out tastes of their native or ancestral homes. The second most amazing thing about the events was the celebration of diversity—the dozens of cultures, countries, and recipes—represented within the walls of the Washington church. Most amazing was that it cost only $10 to eat through it all.
A $10 entry bought unlimited tasting rights for hundreds of home-cooked dishes on offer. Millet cakes, home style grits, and mock meatloaf from the North American offerings of the main room and spatzle, bbq “ribs,” and a steamy, soft polenta on the European side. There was a creamy spinach casserole, groundnut stew, tomato fitfit and lentils many ways represented Africa by way of Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia. Korean jap chae and pajeon and Indian curries nearly did us in on our Asia Pacific leg. But a tangy ginger beer cleared the palate just in time for Trinidadian roti and Guyanese stew “chicken.” And despite a stop for several colorful coconut flavored desserts in the Caribbean room, Latin America beckoned with a punchy guacamole and a bean and cheese enchilada that may have been the best bite had all day. Feijoada, Brasil’s national dish, was served sans the pig parts and beef ribs, but appropriately with a generous helping of grainy farofa and crisp couve mineira. Ice cold passion fruit juice washed it all down.
Taste of Arlington in Ballston was a meatier affair, yet it was a vegetarian dish, a lemony tabbouleh, that shone through as perhaps the tastiest treat of the afternoon. The parsley salad, along with hummus, kibbeh balls, and shawarma from touted and independent newcomer Me Jana shone brightly at an event whose landscape is dominated by small restaurant groups more corporate players. Pulled pork sandwiches from Rocklands drew crowds late into the afternoon and Hard Times Cafe dished up their sweet standby, Cincinnati Chili with cheese, onions, and jalapenos. Chicken flatbreads from Willow offered pleasing char from their time on the griddle, while Café Pizzaiolo offered several garlicky bruschettas. And it wouldn’t be Taste of Arlington without Sangam proprietor Edward Dean politicking the crowd for Grand Prize votes. “We need your help…we’ll do our best for the county…we also have a nice banquet hall.”
Taste of Wheaton debuted a new Ethnic Food and Wine Pavilion, but because they didn't list participating restaurants, it didn't make our cut. And besides, even if hitting the trio of events may be logistically possible, it probably isn't digestively.