Van Van – a travelling food fair
The Parc de la Ciutadella will play host to a score of restaurants on wheels during the La Mercè festival
If the way to your heart is through your stomach, then take note - Barcelona’s La Mercè festival programme also includes a culinary event entitled Van Van which, for five days, will transform the Parc de la Ciutadella into a travelling food fair.
This will be the first time such an event has been staged in Barcelona and the objective is to transform the inner-city park into a travelling food market offering a wide variety of edible fare, much along the lines of similar international fairs such as the Truck Food and Food Courts of London, Berlin and Copenhagen, or the legendary Hawker Centres that can be found throughout Asia. These centres consist of a variety of food stalls usually set up close to trains and bus stations in covered outdoor venues, underground walkways and open air plazas and parks, as is the case with Van Van.
The range of available food will be extensive, with a total of 22 vehicles and 10 chefs of different nationalities, the idea being that the food prices remain accessible without renouncing quality and, above all, nutritional value. The project is yet another example of the promotion of public parks and spaces for the purposes of food and entertainment, and the setting could simply not be better, the fusion of aromas only matched by the uniquely aesthetic decoration of the vans and caravans. The event promises a veritable feast for the senses and the programme also features other artistic disciplines such as music and theatre.
The travelling restaurants that have been invited include Mr Frank and the Buti, La Creperie de Marione, Pizza Truck, The Hipster Bus, Eureka, Caravan Made, Gela't, Toc Toc Vagon, La Cocina Palpita, La Jamoneta, Pequeño Bangkok, San Antonio Rooftop Smokehouse, Reina Croqueta, Kibuka, La Calle Kitchen, Cinemadivino, El Osada, Mosquito, SkyCoffee; Yango and Toya Petit Bar.
The Van Van travelling food fair will be in the Parc de la Ciutadella on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th of September and more information is available at VanVanMarket.com.