This past weekend, the best place to find something weird and delicious to eat in the neighborhood was most definitely Shwick’s FoodPornFest.
The mouthwatering food festival, which was 40 vendors strong at its inaugural event, was held at 395 Johnson Avenue on Saturday, November 5 and Sunday, November 6.
FoodPornFest is the brainchild of Shwick organizers Christopher and Jinyen Carew, who tell Bushwick Daily that this past weekend’s festivities were the first event in a series they plan to host biannually at different locations across the city.
Local food porn addicts came out to the fest in droves, taking advantage of this past weekend’s gorgeous weather by sprawling out onto the sidewalk to eat, creating a scene that mirrored the ever present line outside of Ichiran across the street.
In every direction as far as the eye could see, people were looking at, eating, or in line for, the festival’s food.
Many of the vendors hustled to serve their culinary hits to attendees in long lines throughout the day.
Like many other FoodPorn fest attendees, Darlene Njoku and Dominique Herring waited in line for fifteen minutes to get a taste of Sam’s Fried Ice Cream.
“The ice cream is not melted or soggy,” Njoku delightedly told us. Herring’s take on the delicacy was that “it tastes like funnel cakes.”
The foodie friends said that the the cold deep fried delicious treats were their favorite food at the event.
Brooklyn-based company Kimchi Kooks enjoyed a front and center positioning at the event, though that wasn’t the only factor driving the steady stream of customers lining up for their food.
The Kooks currently make their kimchi out of the Pfizer building in Williamsburg, though they’ll soon relocate to to Industry City.
Kimichi Kooks’ Wuoojae Chung told Bushwick Daily that their twist on the traditional scallion pancake (Pajeon) was Kimchi Kooks most popular dish on Saturday.
Chung classifies their scallion pancake as being a “hybrid of an omelette,” and a traditional scallion pancake.
“We cooked the scallion first on the pan, and then we put the flour-based batter separately on top. Once that’s cooking, we crack open an egg in the batter.”
YEAH DAWG!!!, a twist on the quintessential American hot dog and far from its beef-based counterpart was one of FoodPorn Fest’s most classic food porn vendors.
“I want [our dawgs] to look like a rainbow. I want to have different textures, different colors, different flavors. It’s very important to me … We want it to look like art!”, proclaims YEAH DAWG owner Marina Benetto.
Benetto, who’s been vegan for the past 16 years, was also at Plant-Based Bushwick’s first annual event, and can’t wait for another one.
“To be around all the members of the vegan community is really cool, and it’s cool to see that growing in New York,” noted Benetto.
A totally not vegan but very Instagram-worthy vendor present at the fest was Queens-based biz Twister Cakes.
Attendee Margo Brown, who had just purchased an almond and coconut flaked twister cake, said that the treat’s wildly abstract composition is what drove her to the table.
When asked what was the best food porn of the whole event, Brown said “ [the twister cake], because I have no idea what it is!”
On Saturday, Carew mentioned that some of FoodPorn Fest’s vendors had compared the event to other popular Brooklyn food pop up markets, but that many were pleased to participate in a food-centric event without a separate on-site retail market component.
Shwick is also in the non-food pop up game, though. The Carews will host their third annual holiday pop up market in the same space at 395 Johnson on Saturday, December 3 and Sunday, December 4.
Browse through some more attractive, appetizing food porn below!
Now tell us, Bushwick: what kind of food porn are you into?
Featured Image: Essie Bartels, owner of Essie Spice. Photo by Gustavo Ponce for Bushwick Daily.