Last week I went to Taste of Chicago, not once but twice. Myself and Michelle set out on Friday with one thing on our mind, food! After arriving we queued for about 15 minutes to get into the festival. As soon you went through the gates you got an immediate festival vibe. Hordes of people walking around food in one hand, beer in another, sun beating down. What more could you want on a sunny Friday?
After a quick lap of the event, to read the menus and figure out what we were hungry for, it was clear to see that there was a lot on offer. It took me quite a while to figure out what I wanted, eventually settling for a pulled pork slider with BBQ sauce. The name of the restaurant I bought the slider has escaped me but trust me when I say they do great pulled pork, it was mouth wateringly delicious.
Next on the menu was a Celtic Corn on the Cob from O’Brien’s, probably one of the most awkward things to walk around eating but no regrets here. We also caught the end of a live demonstration while finishing off our corn. Usually the live demonstrations are my favourite part of these types of festivals but I couldn’t sit still for a full one, the temptation of the food stalls was just too much.
With our appetites content we began the hunt for activities. The original plan was to go zip lining but after seeing the length of the que we settled for the Samsung virtual reality experience right beside it, which turned out to be a great decision. A Samsung phone is slid into a virtual reality headset and you are put into a virtual world, while you sit in a chair that mimics what is happening on the phone screen, so you really feel like you are there. The headset is even responsive when you look around so you can get a 360 view of wherever you are on screen. We went for an extreme mountain bike race down a very steep course, which was the highlight of my day. You can find out more about the Samsung VR Gear here.
Leaving that day I was very happy with how it went, but still felt like there were a few more things to do. So I dragged Michelle back the next day for some more Taste. Saturday I ate my first (of many) deep fried Oreo and didn’t it go down a treat. It was nothing at all what I expected it to be, which made it even better.
After a few Oreos we decided to go in search of shade because the heat was getting to be a bit much. When we found a nice patch of grass under the trees it was time to just chill out and listen to the live music just beside us. In all I had a great time at Taste of Chicago, by far the best foodie festival I have ever been to.