Eating In Translation

New York-area food events, July 18-25

Fermented Foods: A Bubbly History and Funky Future
Thursday, July 18, 6:30-8:00
Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St. (at Clinton St.), Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
www.Eventbrite.com/e/fermented-foods-a-bubbly-history-and-funky-future-tickets-60431540364
General admission: $10

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Brooklyn
Concludes Thursday through Sunday, July 18-21, various evening and weekend hours
In the streets surrounding Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 275 North 8th St. (Havemeyer St.-Meeker Ave.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.OLMCfeast.com
Free admission

Indonesian Gastronomy Association bazaar
Saturday, July 20, 11:00-5:00
Diversity Plaza, 37th Rd. between 73rd and 74th Sts., Jackson Heights, Queens
www.Instagram.com/p/Bzd5hEeHB0h
Previously: www.Flickr.com/search/?user_id=61177627%40N00&sort=date-taken-desc&view_all=1&text=%22indonesian%20gastronomy%22
Free admission

Food + Culture: South Asia
Saturday, July 20, 1:00-5:00
Mana Contemporary, 888 Newark Ave. (at Senate Pl.), Jersey City
www.Eventbrite.com/e/food-culture-south-asia-tickets-65283212847
Free admission with online registration

Bastille Day celebration of the French Institute Alliance Française

Festival food of the French diaspora: poutine, a one-day-only offering from Spanish churros evangelist Dulcinea.

Bastille Day celebration of the French Institute Alliance Française
East 60th St. between Fifth and Lexington Aves., Manhattan
www.FIAF.org/event/2019-07-14-bastille-day
(The 2019 celebration was held on July 14)

New York-area food events, July 11-18

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Brooklyn
Continues Thursday through Sunday, July 11-21, various evening and weekend hours
In the streets surrounding Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 275 North 8th St. (Havemeyer St.-Meeker Ave.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.OLMCfeast.com
Free admission

Go Africa Harlem Street Festival
Saturday, July 13, 10:00-6:00
West 116th St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves., Manhattan
www.GoAfricaHarlem.org
Previously: www.EatingInTranslation.com/2015/08/go-africa-harlem-street-festival.html
Free admission

Wagyu x Japan Food Town
Each covers one segment of an otherwise cookie-cutter street festival
Saturday, July 13, 10:00-6:00
Bleecker St. between Christopher and West 10th Sts., Manhattan
Sunday, July 14, 10:00-6:00
Broadway between 47th and 48th Sts., Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/events/2309587615794699
Free admission to both

Bastille Day celebrations
Jersey City, Saturday, July 13, 11:00-6:00
On the street outside The French American Academy, 209 3rd St. (Erie-Grove Sts.)
www.Eventbrite.com/e/bastille-day-in-jersey-city-2019-tickets-60546851262
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Sunday, July 14, 10:00-8:00
Vicinity of Bar Tabac, Smith St. between Pacific and Bergen Sts.
www.BarTabacNY.com/bastille-day
Midtown Manhattan, Sunday, July 14, noon-5:00
60th St. between Fifth and Lexington Aves.
www.FIAF.org/event/2019-07-14-bastille-day
Free admission to all

Happy Family Night Market
Saturday, July 13, noon-11:00
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St. (at Pitt St.), Manhattan
www.HappyFamilyMkt.com
Tickets: $15 and up

Barbados Festival Day
Saturday, July 13, noon-7:00
Monroe Cohen Park (aka Canarsie Cricket Grounds), Seaview Ave. at East 108th St., Canarsie, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217043990084171&set=a.10203778910385469
Previously: www.EatingInTranslation.com/2018/07/barbados-festival-day.html
Free admission

Carnaval Mixteco en Staten Island

Enchiladas are corn tortillas imbued with a chile pepper sauce. Enfrijoladas (en-Free-ho-Lah-dahs) instead employ a sauce based on frijoles, that is, beans. For this trio, black beans were the foundation of the filling, too — enfrijoladas elevate them from side dish to featured attraction.

Also shown, but not ventured, since this was but the first stop of a long afternoon excursion: manzanas con chamoy, apples coated in a salty-sour-spicy-sweet sauce and, most likely, extra sugar, too.

Carnaval Mixteco en Staten Island
Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, 1000 Richmond Terr., Livingston, Staten Island
www.Facebook.com/events/430025437772770
(The 2019 festival was held on May 26)

Coptic Egyptian Spring Festival

Light bites after an impromptu church tour: homemade baklava and basbousa.

Coptic Egyptian Spring Festival
St. Mary & St. Antonios Coptic Orthodox Church, 6254 60th Pl. (Metropolitan Ave.-Bleecker St.), Ridgewood, Queens
www.Facebook.com/events/457711448309183
(The 2019 festival was held on June 14-16)

Romania Day

Festivals organized by churches, mosques, and temples often feature food prepared by members of their congregations. Many wonderful dishes rarely surface except at such events; they don't appear on local restaurant menus because the recipes are too labor-intensive or too poorly codified, or because ingredients are too hard to source.

Even at festivals in public settings, such as city streets, it's good practice to seek out food stalls affiliated with houses of worship. The sărmăluțe (Sar-mah-Loo-tay) above were prepared by the ladies of St. Dumitru Orthodox Church, on the Upper West Side. At a glance they seemed fresher than the stuffed cabbage rolls at neighboring stalls; the pork-and-rice filling was loosely knit and nicely seasoned, notably with onion and thyme. The jaunty savarinas below were unique to the table of St. Andrew Orthodox Church of Jamaica, Queens; these Romanian rum babas sold out posthaste.

Also shown below: the makings of kürtös kalács (Coor-tozh Cah-latch), for which a strip of sweet dough is wound around a spindle, baked, then further sweetened by being rolled in the likes of cinnamon, sugar, and crushed walnut. The result is a hollow cylinder meant to be broken off, bite by bite, with the fingers (mine were too busy to take a final photo). A decade ago, this anonymous festival stall was a curiosity, and perhaps an inspiration. Nowadays, branded "chimney cakes" are not uncommon at New York's outdoor markets.

Romania Day
Broadway near Bowling Green, Manhattan
www.RomaniaBroadway.com
(The 2019 festival was held on May 18)

Lower Eats Side

By way of salchicha guisada, pilaf, pakoras, and abelskiver, Honduras, Kazakhstan, India, and Denmark all showed their colors at this annual school festival. So did a host of others: Some two dozen families prepared home cooking from nearly as many culinary traditions. (See more good food on Flickr.) At a New York City school, that's the sort of diversity we should expect.

Lower Eats Side
P.S. 110 (The Florence Nightingale School), 285 Delancey St. (playground entrance at Lewis St.), Manhattan
www.PS110.org/lower-eats-side
(The 2019 festival was held on June 15)

New York-area food events, July 4-11

Note: Since the extended holiday weekend offers only a few specially scheduled food events, this roundup highlights several more from my "ongoing" section. Perhaps it's a good time to catch up with one or more of these recurring outdoor events, by day or by night.

Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest
Thursday, July 4, 10:00ish-1:00ish
Outside Nathan's Famous, corner of Surf and Stillwell Aves., Coney Island, Brooklyn
www.NathansFamous.com/hot-dog-eating-contest
Free admission

LIC Flea 4th of July Market
Thursday, July 4, noon-8:00
LIC Flea & Food, 5-25 46th Ave. (at 5th St.), Long Island City, Queens
www.Facebook.com/LICFlea/posts/2204568932962547:0
Free admission

International African Arts Festival
Thursday through Sunday, July 4-7, 11:00-9:00
Commodore Barry Park, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
www.IAAFestival.org
Previously: www.EatingInTranslation.com/2007/07/comida-divina.html
Tickets: $10 and up

New York-area food events, June 27-July 4

Charting the Future of Urban Agriculture in New York City
Thursday, June 27, 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
CUNY School of Public Health, 55 West 125th St. (Fifth-Sixth-Aves., 7th fl.), Manhattan
www.Eventbrite.com/e/charting-the-future-of-urban-agriculture-in-new-york-city-tickets-63234863178
Free admission with online registration
Via Edible Manhattan

Solo: Anita Lo in conversation with Kian Lam Kho
Thursday, June 27, 6:30-7:30
Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St. (Grand-Howard Sts.), Manhattan
www.MOCANYC.org/visit/events/moca_food_talks_with_anita_lo_hosted_by_kian_lam_kho
Tickets: $15

Bug Night
Thursday, June 27, 6:30-9:30
New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th St. (at 47th Ave., inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park), Queens
www.NYSCI.org/event/bug-night
Tickets: $20 advance/$25 onsite

Kermesse Peruana Familiar Bailable
Saturday, June 29, 1:00-9:00
Iglesia Santa Roma de Lima, 11 Gray St. (Orange-West Market Sts.), Newark, New Jersey
www.Facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216385224656786&set=gm.419904298826221
Free admission

Drums Along the Hudson

On my previous visit to this annual festival, more than a decade ago, I would dearly have loved a cup of sassafras tea, but at the Iroquois Eatery tent it was 86'ed from the menu. "We didn't get out to the woods" this month, said my server.