Feast Your Eyes on Eat Real Oakland

Peter Brydon discovered his love for chocolate at a farmer’s market where he enjoyed dried cherries so much, he had to find a way to incorporate them with chocolate. Brydon now works at a business called Barlovento Chocolates featured in cafés within the Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and Petaluma area.

He experimented in his kitchen after taking an online chocolate making class in Vancouver, which furthered his chocolate making career. Barlovento Chocolates are only one of many vendors who showcased their products at the fifth annual Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square last weekend.

“This is our fifth year here at the Eat Real Festival and we think that it showcases new and different food types to a very food oriented clientele,” said Brydon, who established his chocolate business six years ago. “It also stresses sustainability and affordable items too especially with all the trucks and food; people only have to pay five dollar plates of whatever they’re selling so it gives them the benefit to try a lot of different things.”

Founded in 2008, Eat Real is the city’s premier fundraiser for the Food Craft Institute.

According to Eat Real’s website the FCI is an educational institution that works to create and improve the viability of small and medium scale value added food businesses in rural and urban America. They accomplish this by teaching traditional food crafting methods and techniques, as well as business analysis and planning skills.

This relates to Eat Real’s mission, which is “to revitalize regional food systems, build awareness and respect for the craft of making good food and encourage the growth of American food entrepreneurs,” the Eat Real website said.

The FCI inspired hands-on learning demonstrations at the festival, taught by a combination of expert food makers, owners of successful food businesses and food business experts.

Some of these performances included “How to Make Your Own Cheese” by the San Francisco Milk Maid and a probiotic cocktail making class put on by Creative Cultures, which uses a live bacteria that boosts the metabolism, cleanses the liver, builds blood and reduces hyper-extension.

The festival also included a state fair, street and food festival, block party as well as free attendance to all consumers.

“There’s a lot of great vendors that come together, but they’re not just any typical vendor,” Mike Hayashi, one of the co-founders of the Koja Kitchen food truck said. “A lot of these vendors use a lot of local resource ingredients and you have a lot of local vendors here representing all different parts of the Bay Area.”

Koja Kitchen is a Korean-Japanese fusion cuisine truck and their signature item is their Korean-Japanese sandwich which is made out of handmade toasted garlic rice buns. They also introduced a new item at the festival, their Koja Tacos which come with either chicken or beef.

Koja Kitchen got involved in the festival by filing an application and having an Eat Real tasting judge sample their food.

“It makes people aware of things that vendors are representing,” said Hayashi. “A lot of these vendors are not just food vendors, there’s actually a lot of businesses here that may represent a certain way of living, a certain way to recycle, or a certain way to cook their food. It brings awareness to each different business.”

Koja Kitchen serves dishes across the Bay Area; however their commercial kitchen is located in Emeryville.

Jim Angelus, owner of the Bacon Bacon food truck, is another person who utilized the Eat Real Festival as a method for bringing awareness to his business. The truck sells items such as bacon cheeseburgers, grilled bacon cheese sandwiches, fried bacon chicken sandwiches and more.

Bacon Bacon started as a family run food truck business and has now blossomed into its own café located on 205 Frederick Street, with another truck coming in November. Angelus says that the success of his business comes from taking part of food festivals, such as SF’s Street Food Festival, Off the Grid and the Eat Real Festival.

“Eat Real is awesome, everything is sourced locally,” Angelus said. “That was a big part of the criteria for getting in, just making sure that all your ingredients are local and were raised properly.”

Aside from the food vendors, the Eat Real Festival also consisted of a craft market place which sold handmade jams, pickles and other baked goods.

Within the assortment of food trucks, consumers were also welcomed to a selection of handcrafted beers, local wines, as well as refreshing agua frescas and natural sodas.

“The festivals are a lot of work; they’re long days,” said Angelus. “But they’re great to get your name out. Not everyone would come to find your store so it works as a great marketing tool; all the while you strike up conversations and meet new people in the community.”