The juicy evolution of street festivals
The tradition of street food goes back thousands of years.
In ancient Greece, vendors pushed carts of fresh-roasted nuts and seeds while making the rounds of local taverns. In medieval Europe, crowds congregated at crossroads where street vendors with large baskets would sell bread, local produce and savory pies. Eventually, full-fledged markets developed and became the center of social life, where locals could get medical care, watch a performance or stock their kitchens from street vendors who hawked their wares. "Shouting like a fishwife" advertised mussels and whelks for sale, while "a deafening noise close to the ear" was thought to stimulate salivary glands.
Gastronomic delicacies can be bought on street corners around the world. Whole lambs can be seen on the spit in Istanbul. In Lima, Peru, outside the Plaza de Toros (the second-oldest bull ring in the world) there are almost always vendors selling "anticuchos," grilled kebabs made from beef hearts - formerly llama hearts, until those became scarce - marinated with fifteen cloves of garlic, hot peppers and cumin.
In Japan, street vendors specialize in the artful presentation of yakitori, teriyaki, tempura or noodles. Thai vendors have worn yokes with two hanging baskets for hundreds of years. Food and condiments are carried in one basket, while a smoldering charcoal grill for on-the-spot cooking is carried in the other.
In Chicago, we've blended ancient traditions and ethnic tastes to evolve street fairs into an art form. Nowhere else have town dwellers and visitors from the countryside, appropriately dressed in Bulls championship T-shirts and athletic stretch shorts, so mastered the technique of juggling a barbecued turkey leg with egg rolls, slippery pad thai or skewered jerk chicken on a bed of rice and beans, and several plastic sixteen-ounce vessels of frosty beverages.
That big daddy of al fresco pigouts, Taste of Chicago, was founded eighteen years ago by Arnie Morton. This year, more than sixty restaurants are scheduled to participate. In addition to restaurateurs manning booths, eleven "fine dining establishments," different ones each day, will hold court in the gourmet dining pavilion: Prairie, Printers Row, La Strada, Hotel Inter-Continental, Italian Village, Magnum's, Palette's, Nix (The Knickerbocker Hotel), Bella Vista, Irish newcomer Fado and Hacienda Tecatilan, a mixed bag as far as Michelin stars go.
Food vendors for the Taste are chosen by the Illinois Restaurant Association. According to executive director Colleen McShane, there's no truth to the persistent rumors that regular participants have a "grandfathered" lock on the event. "We send out applications to everyone, close to 4,000 this year. We get about 100 applications back, and we typically have 25 to 30 percent turnover in the restaurants participating." All successful applicants must be year-round restaurants. They must pass an inspection that checks for sanitation and determines the restaurant's ability to satisfy high-volume demands.
In addition to the nine blockbuster lakefront festivals scheduled through September, some seventy neighborhood festivals citywide are scheduled to deliver entertainment and food. Many of the neighborhood fests are run by outside event managers. While all of these events give first dibs on space to local restaurants, many rely on "outsiders" to man extra grills.
"We try to highlight the locals, but many of them find it difficult to staff and equip a booth unless it's right outside their door. They also see a certain amount of financial risk in participating. If the weather doesn't cooperate, the festival will be a bust," explains John Barry of Barry Events, which manages numerous non-profit events including the Lakeview Mayfest, Andersonville Midsommerfest, Rock Around the Block and Retro on Roscoe.
When a fest can't get enough local participation, Barry Entertainment turns to a huge database of outside cooks. "Some of these vendors make a business of traveling from festival to festival across the country doing street fairs," Barry says. With these hired spatulas, the show goes on from May through September.
It's time to go out and play in the streets now. Just save a turkey drumstick for me.
(A. LaBan)
copyright 1998 New City Communications, Inc.