Streets abroad: LA Epicurean Festival

It was a foodie's dream come true...the LA Epicurean Festival.

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5:30am to get ready for our 7am volunteer shift. Luckily the venue was only about 15 minutes' walk from our hotel, so we had enough time to pass through the hotel's coffee shop for a caffeine fix before we set out. For once, we arrived with 5 minutes to spare!

The venue, Vibiana, was absolutely amazing – a small converted cathedral, white interior with some wooden features such as the old confessionals. Most of the tables inside were already set up but the outside gazebos and bar area were still a work in progress. We checked in with the organiser, Kora, who assigned us the task of putting the vendor signs on each table. We had the one & only floor plan, which made us exceedingly popular! Several other people gave us a hand and we managed to make order out of chaos, just in time as the vendors started trickling in to set up their stands. By now, Lisa was getting some major My Secret Kitchen deja vu ;-)

Lisa appointed herself as the person who'd direct everyone to their stands, and even managed to acquire a plan of the outdoor tables (which were unfortunately still not ready). It was satisfying to see everyone slotting into place. Chris and most of the other volunteers helped to lug boxes, bottles of wine & other vital items up the short staircase into the venue and it all started to take shape. Once everyone was in, we drifted around a bit, checking that everyone had what they needed & were happy.

The 3 musketeers of hydration

Before long, Lisa and another volunteer (Gerard) were asked to set up a “hydration station” with water and Carpe Diem, a kombucha iced tea. (We know what you're thinking....we also had never heard of kombucha...but luckily a woman who makes it was one of our first “customers” so we learned all about it's probiotic qualities!). The quince variety was particularly tasty, although all the Spanish-speakers in the crowd wondered what “fifteen”-flavoured tea was supposed to be ;-)

We were sharing a stand with a lovely woman named Caitlin, who was showcasing “Soofoo” (super good food!), a delicious blend of lentils, rice and grains (mmmmmm lentils- how lucky to end up next to them!). Believe it or not, the 82-year-old inventor of Soofoo is the same man who invented the lint brush about 60 years ago! He's apparently invented more than 20 different things in his lifetime!!

Meanwhile, Chris was distributing show bags to the incoming guests, feeling like he was back at Salute. This first session was just for trade customers & featured some wine tasting & education.

The time went by very quickly – it was already hot & sunny, and word spread quickly about our free drink station especially amongst the vendors. Before we knew it, it was noon & Chris had been relieved by an incoming volunteer; a few minutes later, Lisa's replacement showed up. Gerard was volunteering for the whole day so we gave him some time to wander around and grab some free samples in lieu of lunch. But soon enough we could strip off our white volunteer shirts, grab our tasting plates & wine glasses, and check out all the stands in more detail.

There were some really good ideas, including a few that were familiar to our European taste buds such as crème fraiche. The center aisles indoors were all winemakers or vendors; outside was a mix of cocktails & meats; and the remaining stalls were a great variety of different foodstuffs, cooking & serving-related items.

Some of our favourite people & their products were:

"Define" rose wine – this delicious, quite dry rose was developed by a rather young-looking chap named David James. He came up with the idea when his parents won an Italian wine holiday for the family while attending a fundraising event in aid of breast cancer research. Little did any of them know that this prize wuold help David to find his future!
Grassfed Beef, who featured some tasty meatballs. We had a looonnng chat with this really nice couple, who started the business so they could spend more time together, and more time with their two small children.
Amelie Robert, a small winery where we tasted 3 different pinot noirs. This was another couple with a great story about an international relationship, and a big move from high-tech to wine–making! We loved the fact that they used brainstorming charts from their high-tech days to come up with the name (which is their middle names).

We also enjoyed the flavours of the Crater Lake hazelnut espresso vodka and Croctails golden margarita (the latter, mostly because it was nicely chilled!). Velvet Rope's Guinness cake truffle was delicious. Ghost pepper product vendors, Lisa still says that a Thai bird's eye pepper is a lot spicier!! And finally, a big thanks to Angel Salumi & Truffles for the very generous samples of charcuterie, which made our red wine tasting even more tasty.

We're still not convinced that foie gras can ever be ethical, but we appreciated the amount of research CHEFS had done to understand the process, and to fight the poorly-written bill that had somehow passed congressional review - nobody wants a bad law, even if we agree with it in principle.

After a tough <cough> few hours of tasting, we ambled a few blocks south to our hotel and took a nap! What a great way to spend our time in LA =)