festival food
When someone mentions “the arts,” many times that conjures up images of tweed-jacketed, pearl-wearing socialites or hipsters with thick-rimmed spectacles gazing thoughtfully at a something that looks like a carny’s meth-fueled nightmare exploded onto a canvas. The folks at Chattanooga’s Association for Visual Arts have been successfully working to change that perception for over a quarter of a century through events such as the annual 4 Bridges Arts Festival, which is taking place again this weekend at the First Tennessee Pavilion.
I’m a fan of all the arts, but especially the culinary arts. Once again, the term “culinary arts” may whisk the mind to delicate plates of meticulously arranged cubes and spheres of unrecognizable food that’s been plated with tweezers and squeeze bottles. And again, the folks at AVA come to the rescue to remind us that the culinary arts aren’t limited to high-minded, modernist plating or classic nouvelle cuisine. There’s an art to making tender and smoky pork, casing a sausage to give that perfect snap when you bite into it, or to the techniques required to create a paper thin, yet structurally sound crêpe.
This year’s 4 Bridges Arts Festival will give festival-goers the opportunity to fill their art loving bellies at ChattaFood, the dining, drinking and snacking area of the festival. Just like the art that will be on display and for sale, AVA wanted the food to be accessible yet high quality, and to provide a showcase for local culinary talent.
There will be about a dozen food vendors, but I’m personally looking forward to a few particular things. Kenny’s Smokehouse’s smoked pork is made by hickory smoking nice big pork butts for two days—and you know I like big butts, I cannot lie. Conga Latin Food will be serving sliced mango with lime salt and hot sauce as well as some quesillo cheese and guayaba (guava) crêpes, among other things. Good Dog will be serving all of the dogs and creative toppings from their regular menu, as well as breaking out their killer hand-cased sausages and brats. Flatiron Deli is bringing that famous pimento cheese and Lupi’s will have their pizza and even some salads on hand.
Come check out some art, eat, drink and be merry. The vendors on site for festival will include:
- Cadence Coffee Co.
- Chattanooga Cookie Company
- The Crepe Outdoors
- Conga Latin Food
- Flatiron Deli
- Go Bagel
- Good Dog
- Lupi’s Pizza Pies
- Kenney’s Smokehouse
- Miller’s Original Lemonade
- Old Mill Kettle Corn
- Thrive