174724 Tue Jun 28 14:49:11 -0700 2005 10 14 Washington DC & Baltimore Area 0 939606 This year's theme is food, and some of the presentations were quite interesting, but what they are selling at the stands there is mostly overpriced garbage, worse than any Smithsonian festival I can remember and inferior to what you can buy at a carnival. Smithsonian, this is a complete disgrace - surely you could make a little more effort for this year when food is highlighted. A summary of reviews by me and friends: The buffalo burger ($6) was cold and tasteless on a soggy roll. The smoked fish ($8) was overly dry and flavorless. The salmon salad ($6?) was OK with decent dressing and fairly moist fish, probably the best of the food. The chicken sausage ($8) tasted like what you get frozen at the supermarket, but was the second-best meal of this miserable lot. The fig juice ($3) was maybe iced tea? And why is middle-of-the-road beer $5? (We didn't try the Omman stand food, but it can't be any worse and might be better.) Tue Jun 28 14:49:11 -0700 2005 0 Eater 1 939621 Indeed. It's especially a bummer this year with the food focus. I didn't try the Oman food tent yet, but the food there is prepared by Mimi's (the singing watron place on P St), which doesn't inspire much confidence (the food might be fine at Mimi's, but I doubt they know a whole lot about the cuisine of Oman). Part of the problem is that it's probably tough to find people that will take on that kind of large scale concession setup. Surely they could have come up with something more exciting this year, though (?) Tue Jun 28 15:51:36 -0700 2005 939606 0 Spade 2 939638 I thought that the owner of Mimi's is middle eastern, so that might be why they're cooking for the Oman part of the festival. I'm disappointed to hear about the cruddy food when the emphasis is on food culture. I may make it down there to walk around, but won't be expecting anything good as far as actually cooking goes. Bummer. Tue Jun 28 17:16:17 -0700 2005 939621 0 redglass 3 939655 The lemonade is always a hit. Wed Jun 29 08:27:59 -0700 2005 939638 0 flavrmeistr 4 939656 the owner of mimi's is from Iraq. When I was there this weekend he was doing a presentation in the Food Culture Area with others on immigrant foods and american culture (or something like that). I thought the food from Mimi's tasted fine but a bit overpriced. I always bring my own water and that saves some angst. Overall I thought the festival was pretty good. I loved the edible schoolyard and several of the food demos. But that may be because I have young toddlers who were fascinated by many of the exhibits. Wed Jun 29 08:46:05 -0700 2005 939655 0 soleil 5 939701 Festival good, food bad. Wed Jun 29 14:32:54 -0700 2005 939656 0 Eater 6 939895 The food wasn't bad at the festival. I had the smoked fish platter and vennison stew at the forest cafe (native american food), and the berry cobbler at the american cafe. They also had an interesting date juice w/rosewater drink at the middle eastern cafe. Mon Jul 04 11:00:05 -0700 2005 939701 0 Foodgeek 1 939629 Everything's overpriced every year. If you HAVE to go, at least tote along your own soda or bottled water. Better yet, find out which local vendor is manning the tent. Then if you're really curious, visit that restauranteur AFTER the festival, where you'll find the food cheaper & you won't be shoveling it in whilst standing in 95 degree heat amongst a throng of tourists. At the restaurant, you may even get a real plate & flatware... At least the music is free. But the heat keeps me away... Tue Jun 28 16:45:02 -0700 2005 939606 0 LooLoo 1 939834 Well, it's good to hear that DC is consistent in its reputation for lousy festival food. I recall the Folklife Festival food from the past couple years being equally overpriced and flavorless. Then there's the so-called Taste of DC festival, where half of the food seems to be greasy lomein and the other half raw sewage. Quite the bargain at $8 a pop. Adams Morgan Day always seems to be serving the rancid leftovers from Taste of DC. I haven't been to a DC BBQ or Chili cookoff in years. I'm still trying to digest what I ate in 1989. I went to Jazzfest in New Orleans a couple years back for the first time. Had some amazing etouffe and boudin, better than I've had in some restaurants. And around $4. Why is it so difficult for DC to get decent festival food? Fri Jul 01 12:53:44 -0700 2005 939606 0 WG 2 939858 "I went to Jazzfest in New Orleans a couple years back for the first time. Had some amazing etouffe and boudin, better than I've had in some restaurants. And around $4. Why is it so difficult for DC to get decent festival food?" Local health department regulations. Ever notice how little variety there is among the street food vendors in DC? And how much alike their carts or trucks are alike? It's to meet the regulations. Hey, we wouldn't want people coming to our fair city and getting sick or disgusted from the quick lunch they grab on the street. In the very early days of the Folklife festival (mid '60s) either they managed to get an exception from the health dept or they didn't know (and were ignored). You used to be able to get tastes from all the cooking demonstations, and the people in the Folklife office that contracted for the food vendors got some really creative local cooks and set them up with temporary kitchens. For a couple of years, the husband of one of the administrative officers ran the barbecue tent - very homey. And the festival was funded by the museum (though the budgets were a lot smaller then than now) so they didn't need to make money on concessions. It's too bad - folk festivals used to be great food festivals, too. The Northern Virginia Folk Festival used to have a large food area staffed by little old church ladies (Latino, Asian, Italian, German, and even good ol' 'murkan), and there was usually a goat roasting on a spit outside. Then people started complaining that they didn't want their small children to see a whole goat being cooked, and that the little old ladies making the egg rolls weren't certified food handlers, and it went downhill from there. In New Orleans, they celebrate food, and they celebrate funerals. It's not surprising that it's still more of an integral part of the Jazz and Heritage festival, but I'll bet that if you looked under the hood, you'd find real caterers with real licenses to serve food outdoors, with inspections and certificates, just like here. Sat Jul 02 07:32:49 -0700 2005 939834 0 Mike 1 939870 The Jallab (date juice with rosewater) is good. Sat Jul 02 21:44:07 -0700 2005 939606 0 angrypixie