It’s not often you can get empanadas from Venezuela, vegetable kabobs from Africa and Japanese chicken tempura all at the same event. The three-day World Food Festival opens today in Des Moines, where fest director Stephen King says tasty meals from nations around the globe will be featured.
King says it’s a multicultural festival with more than 25 food vendors featuring delicacies from Ecuadorian food to Russian to Indian to "good ole’ fashioned barbeque." There will also be strolling entertainers and musical acts. He’s expecting up to 25-thousand people for this third-annual food fest. Besides the wide array of foods from around the planet, King says there’s also a broad selection of international beverages to wash it down.
King says there will be at least 20 different beers available and the experts selling it will be able to match the proper beer with the proper food to complement it. While Iowa is sometimes stereotyped as being monochromatic, he says this event shows just how diverse our capitol city’s population is — and the many peoples that comprise our region.
King says most of them are mom-and-pop organizations that are offering food from, essentially, grandma’s kitchen and from all walks of life and from just about every nationality. The fest runs through Sunday in Des Moines’ East Village.