Eat Real Fest

Don't miss Soul Cocina at the Eat Real Fest in Oakland's Jack London Square this weekend. Vegan Bhel Puri with three homemade chutneys and heirloom tomatoes. And tune in to KQED's radio newscast at 5:30pm Friday to hear Soul Cocina.

On Your Marks, Get Set, Eat Real!

It's time to celebrate good food

Four full city blocks stocked with 50 authentic street food vendors on wheels; 50 farmers and local food purveyors; 30 micro-brews on tap; 15 films; 18 From Scratch Kitchen Demos and talks; 12 bands; and four special programs including Ice Cream Friday, Yes I Canned Competition, Edible Pursuit and the Flying Knives Butchery Contest.

Get organized: for your trip to Eat Real tomorrow, Saturday, or Sunday, check out all your different parking and public transportation options on this downloadable map or this interactive map. Parking on site all day is $5 in a covered garage, but you can also take a scenic ferry, BART it, or hop on Amtrak. It’s looking to be a beautiful Oaktown weekend, with three days of glorious sun all day followed by cool breezy evenings. Get your degrees here.

The deets: the event is free of charge, all food is priced under $5, and tickets to the Eat Real Beershed can be purchased on site ($25 for 8 4-oz glasses of NorCal's best microbrews).

More on the plate

Join James Freeman of Blue Bottle and visit his new Oakland roastery from 10 to 11 am on Sunday 8/30. Meet at the Eat Real Info booth on Sunday at 10 am, the tour is free and total walk length is less than half a mile. Please RSVP by sending us an email.

Prizes for our two competitions are official: vacuum packers and Whole Foods gift cards for our champion canners (Friday's Yes I Canned Competition) and St George Spirits for our winning butchery team (Saturday's Flying Knives Butchery Competition). Yes you can enter our canning competition or just bring some goodies to trade, check out the categories here.

Our Partners

Good food for all means good food for the schools. Join Slow Food Berkeley or Slow Food San Francisco on Labor Day for a grand community potluck to demand healthy lunches for kids, all part of the Time for Lunch campaign. Speaking of our non-profit partners, Chipotle is hosting a fundraising day our partner, CAFF on September 1st - join in.

A word from our presenting sponsor: "One of the ways we keep it real at Whole Foods Market is by supporting our local producers. We have a Local Forager dedicated to finding the best food from around here, and we offer low-interest loans to independent companies in our communities to help them thrive. Come eat real with us at our tapas truck and then visit our stores for more treats made and grown in your backyard!" Thank you to Whole Foods for making it possible for our event to be free of charge! We are looking forward to noshing on some crunchy fried anchovies from your tapas truck this weekend.

Some special shout outs to those who have helped with in-kind donations in the final countdown to the event: Magnanimus Wines, Dashe Cellars, Daylight Foods, Oliso, Vignette, St. George Spirits, and many many more. In addition, Eat Real is proud to be supported by a grant from the California Health Care Foundation.


Tune: La Réalité by Amadou & Mariam

Tune: Yo Vivo Enamorao by Camaron de La Isla from Calle Real

Tune: Yo Vivo Enamorao by Maria Jose and Adalberto Alvarez {salsa version of Camaron tune}

Tune: Romance De La Luna by Camaron de La Isla from Calle Real

Tune: Real Thing (Music is everything) by Erykah Badu

Tune: Real Thang (Process Rebel Metaphysical Remix)

Tune: Standing In The Grit Line by Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band

There will be lots of tasty treats at this fest. But you probably will not find any microwaved mayo.
Tune: Microwave Mayo by MF Doom