6 must-try samples from Chicago’s Vegandale food festival

Chicago loves a good festival — so much so that thousands of determined Chicagoans braved the sweltering June heat and humidity to queue for vegan foods on a recent Saturday in Grant Park.

In case you missed Vegandale, the touring bash that brought over 100 food stalls, DJs blasting everything from Lil Jon to Chaka Khan and Instagram-ready installations to the lawns along DuSable Lake Shore Drive, I’m here to catch you up. I felt all the cookout vibes — line dancing, lawn chairs, bellows of smoke from grills. A bevy of chefs and food entrepreneurs were there hawking their plant-based delicacies, along with over a dozen brands offering free samples.

It would’ve been a challenge to try everything available, but here are some I did sample, not listed in any particular order. You can try these at your leisure around town — no lines necessary.

Can you scream ice cream? Well, more like “nice” cream. The “shroom”-based dessert bar brand incorporates adaptogenic “superfood” ingredients into its flavors. GLOW founder Mary Tomias worked at Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat and Grant Achatz’s Michelin-starred Roister, and also owns Lincoln Cafe and Market in North Center. All GLOW flavors are gluten-free. At Vegandale, rich creamy flavors such as vanilla chai latte and peanut butter and jelly were a welcome relief as temperatures surpassed 80 degrees. Vanilla chai is blended from a base of almond, coconut and cashew and is laced with subtle chai spices and vanilla. The brand boasts 10 species of mushrooms packed in each bar, including lion’s mane, reishi, turkey tail, king trumpet and shiitake. The flavor was refreshing, and I detected no hint of a mushroom flavor to distract from its sweetness. I also appreciated the superfood benefits that claim to lower my stress, make my skin glow and power me through the rest of my day.

Available at select Go Grocers and Dom’s Kitchen & Market locations; glowsuperfood.com.

After El Hongo Magico won a Readers’ Choice Food Award for Most Impressive Cult Following, I knew I had to get in on the action. The Vegandale menu included a flight of its three signature mushroom tacos, loaded tamales and cauliflower ceviche. The ceviche is gluten-free, and is a minced blend of raw cauliflower, tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, limes and its green salsa de la abuela (granny’s salsa), with a consistency that reminded me, strangely, of Dippin’ Dots. The cauliflower was springy and chewy like shrimp or tuna would be in traditional ceviche. Each crunch left me going back for more, and I could see this as a fun alternative to chips and guacamole at whatever bricks-and-mortar location they have planned next.

tacoselhongomagico.com; instagram.com/tacoselhongomagico.

Uptown Ethiopian mainstay Demera brought its vegan top sellers, including gomen (slow-cooked collards with onions and ginger), kik alicha (yellow stewed split peas with garlic and turmeric), misir wot (stewed lentils in berbere sauce) and kayseer tibs (sauteed seasoned beets), all served with a hearty portion of injera flatbread. You could pick up to four of the dishes to sample, making for a savory but not too hefty midday meal. Demera general manager Fallen Armster said that although Demera is well known by vegan and vegetarian Chicagoans, events such as Vegandale help reach people who haven’t tried Ethiopian food. “Why not use this as a vessel to show people what you have?” Armster said.

4801 N. Broadway, 773-334-8787, demerachicago.com.

Eat. Watch. Do.

Weekly

What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life … now.

The enthusiastic chefs and the kitchen staff at Hey Govindas got me to try a few of their appetizers, including medu vada, crispy dooughnut-shaped lentil fritters served with a lentil-vegetable stew and coconut sauce. Also for sale were dosa, which are crepes made with lentils and rice and filled with spicy potatoes, and idli, which are steamed lentil rice cakes. Walking around the fairgrounds with so many liquids in my hands was tough, but the crunchy lentils dipped into the stew followed by a swallow of the sauce made for a savory snack pairing. And a cup of tangy sweet passion fruit juice was refreshing on a hot day. Hey Govindas takes catering orders and used its first experience selling at Vegandale to test the market. “We are supporters of vegans because we don’t have any animal food, not even eggs, and to be part of Vegandale, we feel very fortunate,” owner Mohana Mohini said.

773-787-7098, instagram.com/heygovindas.

The Logan Square brewery and distillery showcased its collection of canned cocktails by offering free samples at Vegandale. Maplewood co-founder Adam Cieslak told me the rum punch, infused with hibiscus, orange, pineapple and cinnamon, was a top taker that afternoon. I had to agree with the crowd — the tartness and spice of the brew was crisp and rejuvenating amid the heat.

2717 N. Maplewood Ave., 773-270-1061, maplewoodbrew.com.

When I came across Smooj at Vegandale, I couldn’t pass up the chance to try a “hard” smoothie. I wondered if a smoothie coming out of a can would be as fresh. Would the alcohol give it a strange tang, like a 7-Eleven Slurpee left in your car too long on a hot day? I sampled pina colada, hoping for a glimpse of the real thing, and it was pretty dang close. The hearty pineapple and coconut blend tasted natural, but with a delightful fizz. I would pour this over ice and enjoy it with a straw, ideally at the beach.

Available at select Binny’s, Jewel-Osco and Whole Foods stores; drinksmooj.com.

lazu@chicagotribune.com