Festival Food

I am really enjoying the Calgary Folk Music Festival. The music is great, the crowd is into it and I really like the atmosphere generated each evening. Prince’s Island is a great venue.

Festival food however can be spotty. I know it can be a challenge. Here in the prairies where tastes are conservative to say the least, this after all is where people really do think that Tim Horton’s makes a great cup of coffee, food never gets too spicy. And, of course, when you are trying to feed masses of people it can be a challenge so what we get is mushy almost tasteless Jamaican patties, mini donuts (who eats those things) greasy hamburgers, hotdogs designed to at the very least keep you regular and bad Indian food.

Speaking of which, the India Palace Restaurant’s booth here at the Calgary Folk Fest came all the way from Winnipeg to serve up the most appallingly bad dish of butter chicken I have ever tasted. I know it is tough to feed a crowd but this was over the top.

Basically it was un-uniform, cut up pieces of pre-cooked chicken put into a watery orangey pink sauce which had a faint butter chicken flavour. The rice was bland and the chick peas had a kind of tomato sauce which gave them the background favour of baked beans. The nan was good but it probably was made by someone else. Not much of a deal at $12.00.

It isn’t all bad. There is a guy here at the Calgary Folk Festival making pizza in a portable stone oven that looks great, there are some fairly healthy choices around and lots of laces to refill your water bottle. Then of course then is the beer garden. Always a great spot to get some shade and rest your feet.