It seems to surprise readers of my food blog, Everything Goes With Toast, that I am a vegetarian and have been for eighteen of my thirty years, well over half of my life. Surprising because if eighteen years ago one described oneself as a “foodie” one could not also claim to be a vegetarian without being met with utter derision, because let’s face it it was pretty tough to enjoy eating out without being The Awkward One back in the day. Surprising because only 476 of the 615 recipes on my blog are vegetarian, I regularly cook meat for my husband, son and whoever else should find themselves at my kitchen table and you won’t catch me scowling at you for eating a steak in front of me. I will if you eat fish, but only because of the rancid smell. Bwak.
Despite the world being a much more veggie friendly place these days, I continue to be awkward by foolishly being allergic to soya and mushrooms (both staples of the average vegetarian diet). I am also further awkward by being a stickler for authenticity. Street Food for me refers to a small smackerel of something to eat, with one hand whilst walking down the street. Something which comes on a stick, like satay, or inside flatbread like lavash.
When I pootled down to World Feast, a monthly street food event on Briggate, Leeds I predicted (correctly) that the majority of the food would be Food Sold On The Street and not actually Street Food. Don’t get me wrong, everything looked and smelled absolutely divine, but Street Food it weren’t and I suspect the reason why a rainy, cold Sunday on Briggate isn’t the first choice for diners is because nobody wants to be walking down the street dripping guacamole on their skirt (me) whilst wrestling a burrito (me) and avoiding chewing big gobfuls of windblown hair with their refried beans (hello again!) or trying to eat spring rolls surreptitiously with a hungry baby strapped to their chest (my husband.)
During my stroll down Briggate, I spotted, @Wahaca, @PittaPalaceLtd, @MarketWraps, @crepe_escape, a spit roast stall, a churro stall that was sadly not @haylatinamerica, a bus full of hog roast and the utterly scrumptious looking @StreetFodder, where I was jealous to see my aforementioned spring roll scoffing husband and the lovely Lisa Farrell tucking into elegant little boxes of nibbles.
Remember when I said that I was awkward for being allergic to soya and mushrooms? Well sadly the tantalising sounding vegetarian options at Street Fodder were mushroomy and thus I ended up with a lap full of guacamole instead.
But YUM. Totally worth needing to walk through Trinity and upstairs to find a bench out of the wind to sit on and eat it with both hands and a lot of napkins.
Street Fodder impressed me by selling a range of Asian cuisine from pad thai, curry and nasi goreng to actual bitesize items like satay and spring rolls, little nibbles which I was assured by Lisa and my hubby were full of fresh flavours. So if you’re not an awkward little sausage like myself, do check them out! As well as The World Feast, you can find them at Canal Mills Street Night Market on 28 Feb and DERT 2014 from 7-9 March if you’re going to see Black Swan Rapper,