Though the exhibitors said they were occasionally overwhelmed by the crowds, the mood was happy at the Fantastic Food Fest, which organizers called Indiana’s largest consumer food and beverage event.
The event, which took place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis during the weekend, featured about 200 exhibitors and 30 live demonstrations and drew a crowd of about 10,000 people, according to its website.
In addition to taste testing, attendees could participate in cooking lessons and autograph signings led by celebrity chefs, including Ted Allen, an Indiana native and the host of “Chopped,” and 11-year-old “Rachael Ray’s Kids Cook-Off” contestant Sabrina Richard.
The festival was organized by Circle City Expos and Indiana Grown. Keeping with the latter’s focus on local eating, about 50 of the nearly 200 exhibitors were locally based.
One of these Hoosier cooks was Lathay Pegues, co-owner of JohnTom’s Barbecue.
Pegues was a student at IU when he first tried to make his family’s special barbecue sauce. It wasn’t an easy feat, he said.
His grandfather, John Tom Branson, never wrote down the recipe and went to the grave without telling his secret, Pegues said.
Five years and more than 60 failed recipes later, Pegues said he finally found a combination that tasted just right. He shared that, along with two other flavors, with festival attendees.
“I think food is the number one thing that has always brought people together,” Pegues said. “It always will be the number one thing bringing people together.”
It’s especially important to bring food-eaters together with food-makers, said Erica Caputo, owner of the New Old-Standard Baking Co.
“I think connecting people to the artisans that are making the food is great,” Caputo said. “It’s been especially great for me since I have a vegan product, so I have a chance to break the stigma that goes with that.”
Meeting artisans face-to-face also allowed event attendees to learn about the quirky and fun personalities behind every brand and bite.
B. Happy Peanut Butter, for example, was initially meant to be a small family project to help Jon and Kathy Weeds teach their kids about business. As a crowd gathered around their festival booth, it was clear they’ve far surpassed that goal.
Their crunchy peanut product, which includes flavors like chocolate coconut, white chocolate pretzel and snickerdoodle, is now sold at more than a dozen Indiana stores. And their ten-year-old son Sawyer can explain the company’s net profit.
Other stand-out booths included Steppin’ Out Foods, a shoe-themed bean company created by a former elementary school teacher who said she had always loved high heels and cooking, and Schnabeltier, German for “platypus,” a wine and cheese company that owners said they named after their daughter’s favorite animal.
Despite the weekend’s freezing temperatures, which plummeted into the teens throughout Sunday, thousands of people made the trip to the fairgrounds, according to vendors.
They left the pavilion with autographs, bags of colorful linguine, recipes, cakes, cooking tools and, most importantly, food babies.
