Monday, July 12, 2010

Meatopia

I went to the inaugural Meatopia festival this weekend with my friend and colleague JR. He invited me after even the most virile of his friends turned down the opportunity to eat meat for an entire Sunday afternoon. I, of course, jumped at the chance.

The event assembled some 30 chefs from across the City and beyond with the premise of enjoying multiple tastings of BBQ food on Governors Island, many of the cooking teams roasting whole pigs and lambs right in front of the public.

It was a glorious day for it - hot and sunny but not as humid as the previous few days - and the short trip to the Island from South Ferry was suitably scenic as we slowly sailed away from the gleaming high rises of the Financial district.

The event attracted a very mixed crowd both in terms of age and style. But a love of sustainable, local products and of meat in particular is what united all the revelers. JR and I had opted to get 6 tastings, which turned out to be a fairly decadent choice and we only made it through by taking a break a couple of hours in! Notable highlights included a fantastic grilled bacon roll with pickled green tomatoes from Bobo, smoked duck tacos from Suenos Restaurant, smoky pastrami from Mile End and an incredibly tasty and moist lamb shawarma from Ilili Restaurant.


 In the end, I believe that around 5,000 people came to Governors Island that day for the festival and many queued for long periods of time at some of the most popular stands. If that doesn’t further prove New Yorkers’ enduring love affair for all things food related, I don’t know what does ...

2 comments:

Sam said...

A full day of eating meat? Next year I'm there, come hell, high water, global warming, whatever....sounds amazing.

Stephanie said...

Yes, please do! I have to say that I thought of you, Claire & Pete that day and how much you guys would have loved it :-)