When I heard that the town of Juayua was popular for their weekend Feria Gastronomica (or Food Festival) I knew that it needed to be on my itinerary. Who doesn’t want to experience a festival of foods while traveling abroad?
Let’s be real here: Is food not the main drive behind all travel?
Good place for a food collage? I think yes.
The Feria Gastronomica takes place every Saturday and Sunday from 12:00pm-5:00pm. The streets around Parque Central become filled with mis-matched plastic chairs and tables while vendors strike up their grills and prepare foods.
As you walk through, Spanish music fills the air along with the clangity-clang of spatulas on grilltops. Vendors call out their specialties while they force you to take a sample of beef (or really, whatever meat they have because honestly I couldn’t tell…)
Each stall has a table set up in front giving visual examples of the plates they can prepare for you. Most of them will be some combination of grilled beef, beans and rice, salsa, salad, and tortillas. You’ll also find fish, prawns, and rabbit meat.
While about 90% of the vendors offer their grilled selections, there are a handful that stray away from this theme. There are a few that sell beverages: Water, beer, coke, and a variety of Tropical brand sodas. There’s also the booth that sells the Pina-Loca. This is essentially a hollowed out pineapple filled with a variety of tropical-type boozes. Another booth sells hot french fries with mayonnaise. And another booth (my favorite) sells different cakes.
The Feria Gastronomica is a little unlike what you’d expect from a food festival though. Instead of trying small samples of different foods from many different vendors, you order a full plate of food from one vendor. Two, if you’re really hungry. The plates will range in price from $3-7, based on what foods you get.
So what did I eat? Allow me:
Here, we have a lovely plate, filled to the styrofoam brim with goodness. The main event: carne asada. You can see it peeking out from the bottom. We’ve also got fresh corn tortillas, sauteed white onion, a bit of corn on the cob, and some good ‘ole fashioned black beans ‘n rice. There is a bit of fresh salsa tucked away at the back that the photo doesn’t show. And to top it off, a bacon-stuffed hassleback potato.
I am 100% glad I had someone to share this with, because it would not have all fit into my tummybox.
…and especially because then I wouldn’t have had room for THIS:
Caaaaake 🙂
What we have on the left is a delicious, light almond cake. It was sweet, but not in an overbearing kind of way. My little friend on the right, here, was more of a super dense pudding cake. It tasted like cinnamon, sugar, and all my hopes and dreams.
If you’re ready to jump on the next chicken bus to the Feria Gastronomica, here is everything you’ll want to know about the little town of Juayua, El Salvador!
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20 Comments
This post made me so hungry! The food looks so delicious! And the almond cake looks so divine!
Ahhh I was just going to ask which country this is but you answered my question in the end 🙂 It looks yummy! I love local food markets, they really are the best places to sample local dishes, delicious and cheap too!
I am SO hungry now!!!! Did you eat all day?
I wish I had the stomach capacity for that 😛
These look really good! But I don’t mean to be a Debbie downner. Are there any options for vegans? Or gluten free? (for health reasons)
Since the food comes on pre-planned plates, I’d say for a gluten-free dish, you’d be fine with most foods- they use a lot of rice and cornmeal in their cooking. Vegan, however, you may have some difficulties.
Craving for something sweet now… yummy foods in a beautiful photo collage…for sure you had a happy tummy on this day..:)
Those dishes look delicious. The food festival looks like a great way to sample a little bit of everything. And I’m sure you met lots of locals too while you were wandering around.
All that delicious looking food! The smells walking through there must be fabulous. I love to visit food fairs and markets and this one looks great. Thanks for sharing.
Oh lovely! We are already full but this made us hungry again! Food fairs are definitely amazing!
I’ve never been to El Salvador but would love to and this food festival would definitely be up my alley! The portions look huge so I can see why you’d share with a friend. The cake looks delicious!
although the whole post left me hungry it was the cake shots that inspired the strongest cravings!!!
When I saw your initial pics, I was like, “Did she eat a Nathan’s Hot Dog in El Salvador?” haha.
That all looks so yummy and I agree we travel to eat and explore but the different street foods maybe one of my top reasons too.
Love that Bread pudding!
A food festival every weekend? That’s sounds really good. Does a vegan/vegetarian have a lot of choices in there? I would really like to know.
I love food festivals! You get to try so many great dishes from different places – and looking at your pics I’d want to eat everything! You’d be rolling me home by the end of it!
Wow, that is some food festival! I’m drooling over all of those different cakes. Great post, thanks for sharing 🙂
Ah, haven’t been in El Salvador but def on the list. Hoping to move there next year!
It would definitely be an affordable place to live!
Oh God… I shouldn’t be reading this before having breakfast! Everything looks so yummy. I will be right back 🙂
I simply love food festivals! I’ve been to lots of them in Italy, France and England. And this one seems to be delicious! Thank you for sharing!