WorldFest this weekend! Who's going?

[Robin Garr]

WorldFest!

With at least 80 languages spoken in the Louisville public schools and 50 percent of the city’s population growth over the past 15 years coming from international residents, Louisville is more culturally diverse than ever before. The celebration of these unique cultures in our community culminates in the annual WorldFest, the Office for International Affairs International Celebration this weekend on the downtown Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere at Fifth and Main streets.

WorldFest hosts the largest collection of local ethnic restaurants, vendors and exhibitors at any one event in the state of Kentucky, offering a wide array of cuisines, crafts and educational possibilities. The event is an opportunity to become more familiar with the International Community while honoring the traditions of our past and our future.

Last year’s WorldFest drew over 100,000 people over the course of two days. This year's is likely to be even bigger. And it's a great treat for "foodies," with a large number of ethnic restaurants hosting booths to vend samples of their wares.

LouisvilleHotBytes.com is proud to be an ongoing "Ambassador"-level sponsor of WorldFest, and Mary and I will be spending a lot of time there tomorrow and Saturday, sampling music and culture and especially food; chances are I'll write up some of our food experiences for next week's LEO and LouisvilleHotBytes report.

If a lot of you plan to go, it might be fun to set a time and meeting place for an impromptu offline. Any interest?

You'll find a lot more information at this linked page, which in turn has links to still more:
http://www.louisvilleky.gov/Internation ... ldFest.htm

[Robin Garr]

If you're on Facebook, WorldFest also has a Facebook page that you can set as one of your events, write on its Wall, etc.

WorldFest Facebook page

Never miss this, weather permitting. And it looks like the weather will be great. We will probably combine the FAT Friday and this together and return on Saturday. Certainly one of the best festivals in Louisville.

This has evolved into an incredible event over the past few years. I will be there Friday and Saturday. It is one of the finest events of the year in Louisville in my opinion--great food, ambiance, music, interest groups, etc. I HIGHLY recommend it to the non-initiated!

[Robin Garr]

It is one of the finest events of the year in Louisville in my opinion--great food, ambiance, music, interest groups, etc.

And great sponsors!

From the mayor’s press release:

A new International Beverages pavilion features the Budweiser International Bier Garten, the Diageo Wine & Spirits and the Java Coffee Shop and offers wine, spirits and coffee from around the world.

The Budweiser International Bier Garten? With German spelling, no less? Stunning.

Formerly I would have come out bashing, but now, with Budweiser passing into the hands of a Belgo-Brazilian multinational monolith, I believe the ironic humor speaks entirely for itself.

[Robin Garr]

Formerly I would have come out bashing

I might throw a mini-bash into the LEO/LHB report, space and time permitting ...

Come on, Roger! You know they have to pretend like they have a clue about what beer really is. They claim to be the King after all! I wonder if that Bud Lime, or whatever, will be in the "garten?"

Worldfest is great! Between that and the Friday night Wharf Party this weekend, there is NO chance the wife and I will get bored.

I have absolutely no doubt that WorldFest will be great.

I also have absolutely no doubt that any "bier garten" run by Budweiser will be insipid.

Some things are just meant to be.

I had lunch at Worldfest today and it was lots of fun. After surveying "around the world" my foodie friend and I settled on a tasty vegetable samosa from India Palace, split a cuban from Value Market, had a very interesting bacon bun from Coco's bakery. The most amazing was the tamale from a Guatamalan place. They are set up on the very west side of the Belvedere, and almost next to the stage. The pork tamale had a pork rib in it, amazingly light and fluffy masa, wrapped in a banana leaf. I've never had such a good tamale.

Thanks to the Value Market folks for spearheading this effort.

[Robin Garr]

The most amazing was the tamale from a Guatamalan place. They are set up on the very west side of the Belvedere, and almost next to the stage. The pork tamale had a pork rib in it, amazingly light and fluffy masa, wrapped in a banana leaf. I've never had such a good tamale.

I loved that Guatemalan place (Lopez) too, Amy! I had the tamale (but I think mine had pork neck bones in it - very tasty, but kind of hard to eat) and also a pupusa, which is really Salvadorean but extends across the border into Guatemala - sort of a tostada of shredded cabbage on top of a thick gordita pastry topped with that good, warm but not fiery orange hot sauce.

Also had chorizo and beef tacos from La Nirra, just down the way from there.

It's too bad that neither of those families has restaurants. They just set up food service to show off their culture at WorldFest. I'd love it if we could have a Guatemalan place! (Of course, there's Buenos Dias Cafe in Jeff, which has some Hondurean dishes along with Mexican and Puerto Rican, but the more Latino food options we can get around here, the better I'll like it.

Tomorrow I hope to try more of the "name" restaurants.

Is it just my imagination, though, or aren't there quite as many restaurants on the scene this year?

I went to WorldFest earlier today to attend one of Java Brewing's cupping sessions. If you have the time, I highly recommend participating in this. The Java guys are incredibly knowledgable and very very informative. They cup 3 different coffees and do a full roasting demonstration. You can learn more about what they're doing here:http://www.javabrewingco.com/worldfest.htm. There is a fee to attend, but it's definitely worth it for any coffee lover. You even get a bag of coffee to take home.

Is it just my imagination, though, or aren't there quite as many restaurants on the scene this year?[/quote]


I'm sure there is an official count somwhere but you have to keep in mind that the food places are spread out in areas such as the guatemalan stand on the far west end along with a number of other food stands that go along the back north area with the river behind them. In the past there seemed to be hardly any food in those areas. In fact, during the early years (like maybe 4 yrs ago) there was nothing back that way! So I conclude that there is pretty much the same selection just distributed differently.

[Robin Garr]

Want to know specific times for WorldFest entertainment events? Here's a link to a PDF schedule. The "Parade of Nations," which is kind of inspiring in a home-town way, starts at noon today.

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyre ... inment.pdf

Enjoyed the music, enjoyed the food, and even enjoyed the trinkets being vended.

And the Budweiser "world beer garden" travesty was just as atrocious as I thought it would be.

If anyone or anything connected with WorldFest is reading this, take note. I know that I cannot generate sponsorship dollars along the lines of A-B/InBev, but if you'd ever like to include as part of this event a beer sampling that genuinely reflects the diversity of world beer in a way analogous to the way diversity is reflected by the food and other cultural aspects on display, just let me know. I'll help for free, just so that it might be done correctly for once.

A-B is to world beer diversity what deforstation is to Amazonian flora and fauna.