Indian food

Air Fryer Vegetable Fritters (Pakoras)

Air Fryer Vegetable Fritters (Pakoras)

Are you hungry for a quick inexpensive gluten-free snack? I have loved these Indian vegetable fritters (known as pakoras) for years. My girlfriends and I in high school would get together for take-out Indian food monthly and these little fritters would be my favourite. I hope you like this easy homemade version of them. Serve them with ketchup or, more traditionally, tamarind chutney or cilantro dipping sauce.

Thai-Inspired Picnic Chicken Salad

Thai-Inspired Picnic Chicken Salad

Bluesfest has come to an end for another year. There was some OK food. One has to be open minded and/or make polite creative suggestions like the loaded hot dog on chips. Or you can bring you own food, like I did with the chicken salad (recipe posted below).

RBC Bluesfest 2015 / Gluten Free Finds

RBC Bluesfest 2015 / Gluten Free Finds

As a seasoned (pun intended) veteran of this festival, I have a few observations...The big acts are getting bigger. The cool acts are getting cooler. The food quality is the same. The drink selection is Molson and affiliates. There's a fashion truck this year! Fun.

RBC Bluesfest 2014: We Saw and We Ate - First Weekend

Welcome to this year's edition of 'Eva Bee does Bluesfest: We Saw and We Ate' where I document the gluten-free woes and triumphs while attending the festival for it's amazing local and international acts. Here I'll show you my photos of them local bands and tell you what's what in festival food options.

Friday July 4th meant choosing between two local favourites Cold Capital (Blues Rock) and Silkken Laumann (Electro-Dance knockyoursocksoff fun). Fortunately we managed to catch both acts doin their thang.

Cold Capital
Cold Capital

After a couple days I had some time to absorb what the food options were out there. Since I can't eat wheat, rye, barley, etc I'm left with very limited options for food and drink. As I surveyed FOOD TOLERANT people, a lot of them said that they couldn't afford the food options (for full plates averaging around $9) and chose to drink beer instead! Har.

Strawberry Cheese Cake!
Strawberry Cheese Cake!

Having just returned from a 6 month European food odyssey, I'm pretty strapped for cash myself which leaves me to do what I know is healthiest and best.. make a big hearty breakfast and lunch and hope for the best!

Poached Egg Caesar Salad
Poached Egg Caesar Salad
Snack Attack and Breakfast Omelette before Gaga
Snack Attack and Breakfast Omelette before Gaga
<3
<3

High protein meals early in the day can stave off blood sugar spikes and crashes which makes a long day out in the sun much more bearable. I'm also really pleased that the festival brought back the water fill-up station. This is an important statement about water rights I'm very happy to see supported at Bluesfest. You can still buy bottled water at the festival (for $2, not as bad as it could be for them cash-hungry vendors) but it's a great option to have free water.

More on specific food recommendations later. So far, if you're GF (gluten-free) and generally love great food I recommend getting anything from the East India Company or a Greek Chicken Souvlaki Salad from Greek on Wheels. Otherwise you can get a full gluten-free pizza from Gabriel's Pizza (River Stage) but it's cooked from frozen and you need a crew to eat it with you.

Chicken Strips from Fadi's - Main Stage
Chicken Strips from Fadi's - Main Stage
Gaga praising Venus
Gaga praising Venus

What's been your favourite food at the festival? Leave a comment below or tweet @evayummers! See you this week at the festival!