If the words “Tijuana vegetarian food festival” evoke images in your mind of, at worst, rows of bean and cheese burrito vendors or, at best, Pokez-style potato flautas, you aren’t alone.
In fact, just about everyone I mentioned the event to scratched their head and laughed a little.
But then, they haven’t been paying attention.
Tijuana and surrounding cities are world-famous in foodie circles for their gourmet Baja Med cuisine, a fusion of Mexican, Mediterranean, and Asian influences that coalesce into creations such as escargot pizza, duck tacos, and manta ray soup – all, of course, paired with a glass of Valle de Guadalupe wine.
While the rather open-ended Baja Med genre often relies on seafood and specialty meats, vendors at the second bi-annual Vegetarian Cuisine & Arts Festival showed the same ingenuity in their flesh-free presentations at Margarita’s Village (Avenida Revolucion – Zona Centro).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se2Ijc3qRWI
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42272/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42275/
Take, for example, this cauliflower ceviche tostada from Kokopelli – the celebrated taco hut on Ocampo near Agua Caliente – which offered all the citrusy zazz of traditional ceviche followed by the inert spice and snap of broccoli's sun-bleached cousin.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42268/
Kokopelli also served this raw nopales (cactus) taco with optional chapulines (ahem crickets). Slimy and weirdly crunchy with chipotle salsa burning slowly on the 'cados, it was everything that a veggie taco garnished with bugs should be. Behold.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42269/
Here's a whole-wheat pizza with pesto, green beans, sun-dried tomato, artichoke, and peppers.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42270/
The real thrill was seitan tacos by Alternativa Vegetariana, who approximated traditional street meats such as adobada, chicharron, and tinga with marinated wheat gluten. They may not be as mind-blowing as the chorizo tacos from the popular cart on Madero between Third and Fourth, but they came surprisingly close.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42273/
The festival also touted raw chocolates, cupcakes, vegan nachos, portobello "fish" tacos, Caesar salad wraps (the salad originated at a hotel restaurant of the same name a few blocks away, srsly), guacamole-stuffed mashed potatoes, and crafts from local vendors.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42276/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42277/
Musical highlights included Tijuana locals Coastral:
And X-1:
And San Diego producer/live performer Memo&Rex:
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42278/
The Vegetarian Cuisine & Arts Festival was coordinated by Polen, a Tijuana-based organization which seeks to “generate critical audiences that construct reality through sound” via events such as the food fest, regular downtown showcases, and their seasonal flea market, Arts & Trees.
If the words “Tijuana vegetarian food festival” evoke images in your mind of, at worst, rows of bean and cheese burrito vendors or, at best, Pokez-style potato flautas, you aren’t alone.
In fact, just about everyone I mentioned the event to scratched their head and laughed a little.
But then, they haven’t been paying attention.
Tijuana and surrounding cities are world-famous in foodie circles for their gourmet Baja Med cuisine, a fusion of Mexican, Mediterranean, and Asian influences that coalesce into creations such as escargot pizza, duck tacos, and manta ray soup – all, of course, paired with a glass of Valle de Guadalupe wine.
While the rather open-ended Baja Med genre often relies on seafood and specialty meats, vendors at the second bi-annual Vegetarian Cuisine & Arts Festival showed the same ingenuity in their flesh-free presentations at Margarita’s Village (Avenida Revolucion – Zona Centro).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se2Ijc3qRWI
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42272/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42275/
Take, for example, this cauliflower ceviche tostada from Kokopelli – the celebrated taco hut on Ocampo near Agua Caliente – which offered all the citrusy zazz of traditional ceviche followed by the inert spice and snap of broccoli's sun-bleached cousin.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42268/
Kokopelli also served this raw nopales (cactus) taco with optional chapulines (ahem crickets). Slimy and weirdly crunchy with chipotle salsa burning slowly on the 'cados, it was everything that a veggie taco garnished with bugs should be. Behold.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42269/
Here's a whole-wheat pizza with pesto, green beans, sun-dried tomato, artichoke, and peppers.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42270/
The real thrill was seitan tacos by Alternativa Vegetariana, who approximated traditional street meats such as adobada, chicharron, and tinga with marinated wheat gluten. They may not be as mind-blowing as the chorizo tacos from the popular cart on Madero between Third and Fourth, but they came surprisingly close.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42273/
The festival also touted raw chocolates, cupcakes, vegan nachos, portobello "fish" tacos, Caesar salad wraps (the salad originated at a hotel restaurant of the same name a few blocks away, srsly), guacamole-stuffed mashed potatoes, and crafts from local vendors.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42276/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42277/
Musical highlights included Tijuana locals Coastral:
And X-1:
And San Diego producer/live performer Memo&Rex:
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/20/42278/
The Vegetarian Cuisine & Arts Festival was coordinated by Polen, a Tijuana-based organization which seeks to “generate critical audiences that construct reality through sound” via events such as the food fest, regular downtown showcases, and their seasonal flea market, Arts & Trees.