The Big Eat Was a Big Success, With Seventy Local Restaurants Serving Samples

Want proof that Denver has an awesome food scene? On July 24, EatDenver's annual fundraiser, The Big Eat, drew more than a thousand people to the Denver Performing Arts Complex, where they sampled dishes and drinks from more than seventy eateries that are part of the area's vibrant independent restaurant community.

Many of the hungry diners were veterans of previous Big Eats, and smart enough to order plastic trays from Amazon to hold food and drinks so that they didn't have to gobble down samples on provided plates and then search for a compost or recycling bin before finding their next bites. Meanwhile, newbies went from vendor to vendor, ogled the goods and picked up tastes on the run.

"We had over seventy local and independent restaurants represented and a sell-out crowd of a thousand guests," says Sarah Abell, Eat Denver's president and programs chair, "all supporting EatDenver’s mission to connect and empower the Front Range’s independent food and beverage community."
There were some VIP guests as well: representatives of the Korea Agro Fisheries Food Trade Corp., the Korean government agency that promotes trade, exportation and marketing of Korean foods and beverages around the world. One of the event's sponsors, it had an exhibit of goods for the curious, and members of its team went to various vendors to meet and greet chefs who were using Korean ingredients. Among those was Mukja Food Truck, a popular truck around town, which used kimchi and galbi consomme with birria and chiles for a cross-cultural treat. The Korean representatives also stopped by Same Cafe, which handed out kimchi eggrolls.
Nobody went home hungry: Other highlights included several pizza vendors, proteins from beef to French pate (that country's version of Spam, we were told), duck, deviled eggs with smoked yolk, lamb carpaccio and empanadas (from Maria Empanada, which recently opened an outpost at the airport).

For thirsty guests, there were both alcoholic and non-alcohol drinks, as well as a variety of seltzer waters, including the popular Topo Chico brand giving away bottles.
But food and drink weren't the only draws (admittedly, they were the main draw) at The Big Eat. "We had some really cool non-food activating," says Abell, including a band, roving characters from Meow Wolf, a Roblox Game (a video game screen in front of the Korea Agro table), and Mija of Moon createding poetry for attendees on the fly.

See the full list of The Big Eat food and beverage providers at eatdenver.com/bigeat.