We had a great time at Festival of Nations over the weekend, checking out hundreds of food, beverage and retail vendors and sampling dishes and snacks from over 75 countries around the world. Here are just a few of the best things we ate – a few of them have restaurants in the region, so be sure to visit them if you didn’t catch them at the festival.
Empanadas at Tango Argentina Food The St. Charles-based Argentinian restaurant showed up with empanadas stuffed with flavorful fillings including ham and cheese, spicy beef and spinach.
Mango meatball curry at Sameem Afghan Restaurant Tender kofte served in a curry sauce with hints of mango, accompanied by light and fluffy rice and a warm sheet of naan, were the star attraction served by Sameem owner Fahime Mohammad and his crew.
Mozzarella-stuffed plantains at La Colombianita We had to sit down after enjoying this dense, sweet-and-savory hunk of plantain filled with mozzarella and guava from Colombian food truck La Colombianita.
Burmese tea leaf salad This crunchy, refreshing salad with tea leaves, cabbage, peanuts and more was probably the healthiest thing we ate at Festival of Nations, courtesy of the Burmese stall.
Cochinita pibil tacos from El Molino del Sureste The Northampton restaurant showed up representing Yucatan cuisine, and this taco’s juicy achiote-citrus pork came offset with sour, crunchy pickled onion and habanero.
Satay at Tee Rak
We loved the delicious satay from Tower Grove Farmers’ Market regular Alada Poodtajan and Tee Rak. Chunks of juicy chicken are marinated overnight, sous vide to the perfect temperature, and grilled to order. Served with housemade peanut sauce, the skewers made for the perfect walking snack.
This article appears in August 2024.
