Photo Credit: Bay Area Bites
Twitter: @danieluh
San Francisco’s Mission District is a thriving multi-cultural neighborhood with incredibly diverse talents and influences in local arts, music, and of course, food. With so many distinct and exciting tastes coming from local restaurants and shops, La Cocina decided to take their passion for supporting local business to create the San Francisco Street Food Festival. The Festival is meant to unite the best food and music from the area once a year, with many of the eateries being apart of La Cocina’s incubator program.
This Saturday, August 17, the streets of the Mission will be full of aromas and flavors from all over the world with many Latino options, so come hungry and open-minded. With an average attendance of over 80,000 people, foodies will get down and dirty with their street treats, with choices in everything from endless taco options and sandwiches to desserts and agua frescas. For example, you can mosey on to Don Bugito’s Prehispanic Snackeria to try your pick of edible insects like the moth larvae tacos, finished off with vanilla ice cream topped with toffee mealworms. Yup, mealworms. Being a native Miamian, i’m partial to El Nuevo Frutilandia, serving traditional Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisine, because not much is better than a well done Cuban sandwich. Want a ceviche? Cholo Soy will hook you up typical northern Peruvian dishes to tickle your fancy(don’t miss the chicha morada.) I can actually go back to listing your taco options but the list is so vast, I will just leave the full list of vendors here and let your taste buds and imagination do the rest.
You can purchase your food “passports” here, depending on how much of a, ahem, glutton you want to be. And the best thing is that while you’re noshing away at these delicious treats, you are supporting local entrepreneurs that have a passion to serve their community and maintain their familial and cultural heritage in the Mission for years to come.