{"id":25566,"date":"2014-12-12T11:35:22","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T11:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=25566"},"modified":"2014-12-12T11:35:22","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T11:35:22","slug":"in-depth-street-food-cardiff-get-it-while-its-hot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2014\/12\/12\/in-depth-street-food-cardiff-get-it-while-its-hot\/","title":{"rendered":"In depth: Street Food Cardiff – get it while it’s hot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Previously described as chain-centric, Cardiff has experienced a street food revolution, as collectives and pop-up events bring a wave of edible success to the city<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the trendiest things a Cardiff local can do on Friday or Saturday night is walk down a dark and inhospitable street to the trader door of an abandoned industrial warehouse. The exterior is bleak – visitors have to pass through a curtain of plastic sheeting at the entrance. Inside, though, this once-empty space is thronging with stalls, traders and customers. Music blares over the hum of talk and the smell of frying lingers in the air. This is Street Feast Cardiff, the hottest pop-up event of the year.<\/p>\n

Street Food is Dead<\/i>, an Alt.Cardiff article declared<\/a>, exactly a year ago. Extensive council prohibitions currently prevent stalls from selling their goods on a vast majority of the city\u2019s pedestrian streets, and independent traders must go through an extensive application process to obtain a license to trade.<\/p>\n

\"AltCardiff_Feature_Streetfeast\"

\u201cI think until about 12 to 18 months ago Cardiff was predominantly quite a chainy city,\u201d Jane Cook, author of local food blog Hungry City Hippy<\/a>, says. \u201cAll our main restaurant areas were populated by the same places\u2026but over the past 12 months that has started to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new wave of entrepreneurial spirit, seen particularly in the growth of food collectives, has given way to a surge of pop-up successes. Cardiff\u2019s street food scene has done a Lazarus, and it tastes spectacular.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Getting it Together<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Tired of the city\u2019s council restrictions, increasing numbers of independent street food vendors have formed food collectives. United in their love of food and finding strength in numbers, they are out to revolutionise the city\u2019s eating habits; and in the past year these collectives have hosted a series of highly successful pop-up food events around the city.\u201cThe scale of a collective allows them to punch above their weight in terms of marketing their offerings,\u201d commented Hannah Poulton, author of food blog Love To Dine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Deri Reed, entrepreneur and vegetarian food vendor better known as the \u201cEthical Chef\u201d partnered with head of the Riverside Farmers\u2019 Market Gareth Simpson, to create the collective Cardiff Street Food<\/a> in 2012. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to do an event with someone else,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one was doing street food in Cardiff, so I thought we\u2019d try something together and see what happened\u2026 about 800 people turned up to our first event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Altcardiff_feature_simonneil\"

Think Creative<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b>Something Creatives<\/a> are another collective – a community of Cardiff entrepreneurs who run projects dedicated to improving the city. Feeling the need for a new street food event, they collaborated with The Depot (the industrial warehouse on Dumballs Road), to create a space where independent vendors could come and trade without incurring council fines. \u201cIt took us eight months to negotiate the trading license with the council,\u201d Simon Thomas, a partner of the Something Creatives<\/i> collective and founder of Chucks<\/a> burgers. \u201cWe’ve always been naturally attracted to a DIY aesthetic and a high street alternative,\u00a0and with it being such a global trend we thought we\u2019d give it a go.”<\/p>\n

[youtube]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xJeZ7g339EA[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

The Street Feast hosts a stellar line-up of traders each week. Among the many dishes on offer customers have a choice of burgers from Chucks, flamingly spicy stir fries from Bangkok Caf\u00e9<\/a>, the slow-cooked meats of the Hang Fire Smokehouse<\/a>, or a cocktail from Milgi<\/a>. Anyone with a sweet tooth can get always go for a tub of churros \u2013 Mexican street sweets, lightly fried in oil and dunked in a chocolate dipping sauce. Dishes are roughly eight pounds a head, but people split and share their food.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s not just a bunch of beards and hipsters.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Neil Young- Dirty Bird Fried Chicken<\/h3>\n

Food, Music, Identity<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0Individuality and small business drives the Cardiff Street Food and Something Creatives collectives. The vendors at the Street Feast<\/i> are not only marketing high-quality food but making statements; a regular at the event is the Dirty Bird fried chicken truck<\/a>, which provoked an international response earlier this year with its arguably phallic logo. \u201cPeople want to try their own thing.\u201dDerri says. \u201cThis is a great way to try out an identity, and a brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AltCardiff_Feature_Bankok_Big\"

\u00a0In the three months since its launch, The Depot has been filled with hundreds of visitors. Its success lies not just in the food; local musicians and promoters have also been drawn to the collective, bringing live music, DJ booths, and works of art into the mix. \u201cI think they\u2019ve tapped into the fact that people want something a bit different.\u201d Jane said. \u201cStreet Feast are only doing this uniquely for Cardiff – but when you\u2019ve got a captive audience as accessible as Cardiff is, they\u2019ll continue to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Street Feast\u00a0<\/em>ends its run \u00a0at The Depot on December 31 – but for now the vendors filling the warehouse, and the stream of people visiting the stalls, are testament to the captive audience the collectives have hooked. It makes sense. Food, after all, is made to be shared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the trendiest things a Cardiff local can do on Friday or Saturday night is walk down a dark and inhospitable street to the trader door of an abandoned industrial warehouse. The exterior is bleak – visitors have to pass through a curtain of plastic sheeting at the entrance. Inside, though, this once-empty space is thronging with stalls, traders and customers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":25622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[448,965,4413,4414,4415,22,4416,2037,4417],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-25566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-market","tag-chucks","tag-collectives","tag-dirty-bird","tag-food-2","tag-street-feast","tag-street-food","tag-the-depot"],"yoast_head":"\nIn depth: Street Food Cardiff - get it while it's hot - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2014\/12\/12\/in-depth-street-food-cardiff-get-it-while-its-hot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In depth: Street Food Cardiff - get it while it's hot - alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the trendiest things a Cardiff local can do on Friday or Saturday night is walk down a dark and inhospitable street to the trader door of an abandoned industrial warehouse. 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