Dispatch from the Eat Real Festival in Oakland, CA

By Amber Turpin on September 3, 2010

There are plenty of end-of-summer activities to take part in this time of year, trying to squeeze in that last stay-cation before fall descends. But for two years now, those of us here in the Bay area whose lives revolve around food more than, say, Burning Man, find salvation, and company, in the back-to-back food festival fun of SF Street Food and Eat Real. This year I caught up with Susan Coss, Director of Eat Real 2010, who filled me in on some of the reasons this food event continues to charm us all. Read more

Tickets Still Available: Come Eat Paella with Us and Support a Good Cause! (Menu Inside)

By Paula Crossfield on August 21, 2009

Civil Eats is thrilled to partner with Camino Restaurant in Oakland, California for our fundraiser on Monday night, part of the Eat Real Festival‘s Keeping It Real dinners. We hope to raise a bit of cash so to help keep our wheels turning over here — until now we haven’t recouped funds through advertising (and want to keep it that way) and have yet to get any steady funding, and in these economic times we’ve kept afloat simply with a strong will to inform you, our dear readers, about the issues facing our food system. Its all about the love, but we gotta eat!

Please, if you are in the Bay Area, come and join us at our fundraiser dinner on Monday evening, and enjoy great food and meet your loyal editors. We will talk shop and inform you about what we’re working on, and it will be an all around smashing time. Promise! And if you are not in the Bay Area, could you pass this along to your friends who are? We appreciate it!

In addition to delicious paella made in the Camino fireplace, and beautiful, local, organic summer produce and cheeses from Andante Dairy and Harley Farms, there will be organic and biodynamic wines. We wouldn’t think of serving real food supporters anything less delicious. Here is the menu as it is looking right now: Read more

Come to the Eat Real Festival Dinner at Camino and Help Raise Funds for Civil Eats!

By Susan Coss on August 12, 2009

It’s the final weeks here at the Eat Real Festival – the months of tasting and seeking out the very best street food the Bay Area has to offer has come to a close. We’ve now got an incredible roster of over 40 street food vendors, 40 farmers and food purveyors, and 30 microbreweries. When we counted it all up, we realized there were over 200 small, Bay Area businesses participating in this event.

These small business owners take tremendous pride in growing the sweetest tomatoes or watermelons; or serving their patrons the best plate of food that incorporates fresh, local ingredients; or designing the most colorful posters that showcase the vibrancy of the event; or working tirelessly to ensure that everyone has affordable access to Good Food. And they have shown us how committed they are to connecting with one another.

This dedication to Good Food couldn’t be more evident in the effort going behind the August 24^th fundraising dinner we’ve planned for Civil Eats at Camino Restaurant — which will donate a percentage of the night’s proceeds. With a menu featuring paella made right in Camino’s fireplace, and organic, local summer produce and cheeses from Andante Dairy and Harley Farms, it’s an inspirational example of small businesses working synergistically to benefit organizations fighting for fair access and economic opportunity when it comes to Good Food. Read more