The Unqualified Culinary Critics

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Hello, and welcome to the Unqualified Culinary Critics. We are a local Vegas podcast that celebrates food and culture. Join us as we talk about our food and cultural experiences, and we do hope that these stories connect in some way to each one of you as well.

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In previous episodes, we briefly discussed festival foods and how expensive they are, unless the price has changed and are more affordable now. This episode, we will be discussing Victoria's recent festival trip and what she thought of the food. So, Victoria, do you want to get the conversation started?

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Yeah, why not? So, I recently went to a music festival and I was looking around the food stands, the food trucks and everything, trying to figure out what to eat and it just made me realize that like music festival food is kind of sad.

0:00:57
Really?

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I don't know if you've ever been to a music festival before.

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Have you?

0:01:04
I don't think so unless it was free and I was just traveling or something but from my recollection it was mainly food festivals, but yeah.

0:01:14
Yeah, so obviously, you know, music festivals, you're not necessarily there for the food, you're more there for the music and entertainment than anything else, but you know, this is a topic that I think should be talked about as someone who goes to music festivals pretty often, because the options we have are always upsetting. Well, at least to me, most of the time. Like, it's not upsetting because you know like oh they're just bad options or like anything like that that's not always necessarily the case it's not always that the food is necessarily bad it's just with music festivals and I don't know if it's the same with like food festivals but like with music festivals the food they hand out is usually way like smaller portions and then um like yeah it's just smaller portions and it's more expensive than usual that's the reason why i get a little upset or a little sad you know about the state of music festival foods um yeah and i've noticed that at like so many music festivals that i've been to you know i've been to like life is beautiful i've been to kill me block party i've been to Tropicalia, I've been, you know, I went to Primavera Sound in Barcelona Like I've gone to a lot. I have a lot of experience with that But yeah, and like usually Like I said because music festivals you're more focused on the entertainment than the food Like, you know that kind of slides by like I feel like people just let it, let those things go. Cause they're just like, oh, you know, like just want to see this artist. I'll just have this like basic, quick, fast, or like accessible food. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Like with me personally, like with music festivals, I like going, like I'm the type of person who, if my favorite band is playing, I'm going to be at the stage all day waiting for them so sometimes I don't even like eat at music festivals like I'll just take my little snacks like a little granola bar some cookies stuff like that but like as I've gotten older I've begun to actually go to like the food stands and like the drink stands and all of that and like you don't actually get food and it's been disappointing.

0:03:37
Interesting. I want to start off with the first question that I have, actually. Have there been any festivals that you've been to where the food is included with the admission fee? Or, no, it's all a la carte, like you have to pay separately?

0:03:54
Oh, no, it's all been a la carte, but that's actually a really good idea. I feel like sometimes some festivals kind of do that with their VIP packages. Like sometimes with, not that they necessarily include the food in it, but they will, you'll have like secret menus or like different bars or different like stands that you can access with your VIP. Wristband, like last year I went to Rumbazo and I remember in the VIP section, because I had VIP tickets for that, we had like private bars and like private food and stuff that we could food stands that we had access to. We still had to pay for the food and everything but you know it was our options were more than if you just had

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the regular GA ticket. Okay and then are there usually like food trucks or you know vendors local vendors at the festivals? Like, for instance, you know, Life is Beautiful, it was here in Vegas, but my question is, have you seen any local vendors that were there?

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Yeah, so it's always nice because I feel like certain festivals try to be a little more, like, more involved in the local community. So you'll see, like, local restaurant stands, and then you have some that are just like, oh, we're just gonna get big chains. Because obviously, they have to get all types of food to accommodate all types of people, because you know, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people are at these festivals. And so, like, you'll see like a nice little, like you'll see a stand for like a nice local restaurant, like you'll see, I don't know, Veggie Nation or something, I don't know. I, like I said, I haven't gone, I actually haven't gone to Life is Beautiful since the pandemic, so I don't know if like things have changed up too much, but I have seen like, when they announce like the food and stuff, sometimes they'll announce a few local, a few local restaurants, but like you'll see like their stands, like I know with Kilby Block Party, they had Salt Lake local restaurants there, and I'm sure they do that here in Vegas too. Cause you know, these places, these festivals are gonna wanna connect to the community and get like, you know, more people to come and all of that. And yeah, so you'll see, you'll see their stands. I've noticed recently though, that it's more of a mixture of stands and food trucks. Like before when I would go to Life is Beautiful, it was all just stands. And now I'll see stands and food trucks. But obviously a lot of them, some of them are local. But I remember one year, Life is Beautiful, they had Chipotle there. And so they had their little Chipotle stand and they've had Dutch Bros there before. So obviously those are like a little bigger more chain foods than local. But yeah, actually I remember this one year because like I said, I'm usually the type of person where I will like wait at the same stage all day like I'll just be there at barricade. And the one time that I decided not to do that, Chipotle went to row and gave everybody burritos, like free burritos. I was so upset. But yeah, I feel like you get a nice mix of local restaurants and, you know, more chain restaurants at festivals. Well, at least at bigger festivals, because like I said, with like the festival that I went to in Salt Lake City, like I didn't really see any like big chain restaurants. It was, I mean, it looked to me, someone who's not from there, like it was like local vendors.

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Okay.

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Because they didn't have Chipotle, they didn't have like Nacho Daddy, McDonald's, none of that.

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Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I was just going to say, I think it's good that local vendors are getting an advantage, you know, at festivals, just because, you know, they're selling their stuff, and they work so hard. Because it kind of makes me think, though, you know, like, okay, so the admission fee would cover everything, especially the local vendors. So I'm thinking to myself, and this, I know this shouldn't really concern me, but I'm kind of wondering how that equally or evenly split with the vendors, especially with the food, because it's just like a matter of, you know, well, I worked harder more than the other vendor and that kind of thing. But I don't know, I haven't been to a music festival, either in a long time or I haven't been at all but I excuse me I never thought that it would it would be that way but I just I was just kind of curious you know I'm

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just gonna know your thoughts honestly I feel like I mean I'm just gonna speak on like life is beautiful just because that's the festival that I've been to the most that's the one that's here in Vegas you know that's the one I'm familiar with I feel like ever since they got bought out they haven't been as community-oriented as they were before. So to me, I feel like they need to have more local restaurants there. I'm trying to look at their culinary lineup, because this is one of the reasons why I think this is such a good topic for our podcast, is because yes, people go mainly for the music, but there's always, on their website or on their Instagram, they'll be promoting the food and like the vendors there and everything. And like, they do have that aspect, like that's still an important part of the experience. Because sometimes you'll get to try like cool festival foods that you wouldn't necessarily get anywhere else or like, you know, that you'll only get there. Because sometimes like some restaurants will do like a special, like a festival special, you know? Just to like promote themselves and get more people to go but yeah I'm trying to look for their like culinary lineup for this year and it doesn't look like they have it up yet because like I said they'll usually put that on their website and you can see the foods that they'll have before you know so you can like plan it out I guess and I think it's kind of weird because you know it's only a few months away and they usually have like something um but i remember before they would have like local chefs go like the first year that they did life is beautiful they were inviting like local chefs and then it was really cool because um to kind of like promote the festival and everything they would have these chefs go to schools and teach kids how to cook healthy foods and like all this sort of cool stuff that's good. Yeah, see, because last year, I'm like going through the Instagram trying to find like an example of like the foods they have and stuff. They had hot bamboo there and I'm trying to see if they're local or not. But yeah, it doesn't look like they're local. So that's one thing. But yeah, and they'll like promote like the restaurants like this is why it's, for me, why I think it's so important to have local vendors there, because they'll go on their Instagram and promote them. And it's like Life is Beautiful's a pretty big festival now. It's a wannabe Coachella, so, you know, it's a lot of people that will be seeing that.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I would agree. I would definitely agree with you on that. So you were talking about how, you know, it to me kind of sounds a little bit like when I went to food festivals in the past, how the portions were small and the prices were expensive, but then again, the last time I've been to a festival was many moons ago, so I don't remember what it looked like entirely, and it probably could have changed by now, but has there, without really mentioning any vendors names or anything that we're not here to talk poor about anybody but has there ever been like an example where it just like really it really got you where it's like okay I see why people like this place but at the same time when I get my meal I know for a fact that it's gonna be small and it's expensive has has that ever happened like yeah in general yeah

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Yeah, it has like I feel I feel like the only time I've been to a music festival Where like what I was getting was like I was okay with the price I was paying even though I knew it was more expensive and I was getting less than what they usually would give was when I went to the Music festival took you my better sound just because like what me and my friends would do is we would get to the festival We would go eat and then we'd go and like, you know, go see our the bands that we wanted to see. But at that festival, we would eat. The portions were okay size. It was a little more expensive. And we were paying in euros, so it was way more expensive than I even realized it. But the good thing about it was that we were full for the rest of the day. We didn't really have to go eat again afterwards. We were okay for the whole day. So I definitely think it was worth it just because you know we didn't have we weren't like oh like we're already hungry again like three hours later we got to go find something else to eat like no like we would just eat that one meal and we'd be good. It was really cool because they had a lot of like different foods from around the world. So they would have food from like South Africa, they would have food from, you know, they're in Spain, they had like, they had ramen, you know, like all sorts of food. They had Peruvian food, it was really, like it was really cool, and you know, especially, because you know, they know that there's gonna be a lot of people traveling for this festival, they know there's gonna be a lot of international people, so it was really nice, you know, like, because they had a Mexican place too, so you know, like a little taste of home when I'm like halfway across the world. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, like the portions might have been a little bit more on the smaller size than what they usually serve, but it was worth it because you were full and energized for the whole festival. Like we were there for like 10 hours and we'd be good those 10 hours. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's definitely a place where it was like worth it. But like, like I said, life is beautiful. Or no, actually at Tropicalia, because they they had a vendor that was selling pupusas. And I love pupusas. Like I have talked about them so many times on this on this podcast, like, you know, and I really wanted one. But literally they had they were so expensive. Like it was ridiculous. It was like four dollars for one and I'm just like no And like I saw somebody else get them and they weren't even like big poopoo sauce like they were like small Honestly, they were smaller than what I'm used to so I was just like yeah, I know that's not worth it That's too expensive and it's like one poopoo sauce. That's not really gonna fill you up all that much Yeah, I mean you might get like halfway full but then you have to get another one but yeah I was just like four dollars for one no and they're small no I didn't get them and then they had um I was fresca I was fresca so that were like 24 ounces like they were in pretty big cups but they were $18 18 $20 for 24 ounces yeah yeah I was like that's not that's not worth it.

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Yeah, yeah.

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I mean, I still ended up getting some and it was like good al oferesta, but like I wasn't disappointed in the flavor, I was disappointed in the price.

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Yeah, yeah, I would agree.

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But yeah, oh, I actually found, oh, this is beautiful. They, like I said, they do have a good mixture of like some local restaurants and not to go completely off topic and bring it back to something we already discussed, but they've had like Good Pie, Vegas Pizza, Metro Pizza, they have had some local vendors there. That's good, yeah. Even the local vendors, when I've gone and stuff, they still have smaller portions than usual so it's like that's I don't know I always feel like that's slightly upsetting especially because then you'll have to like go and get more food later on like you're not going to be full for the whole day like with the Madera and their vendors there yeah but you know I think

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I'm not I'm not trying to take sides here when I say this but I feel like with the vendors especially the locals like one reason why they're charging so much is they have to go through all that hard work with buying the produce or buying the ingredients and stuff. But then again, portion wise, if I hope that they do have some really smart business minds when I say this, but to charge more than what it looks like, I think it's just cheating. But at the same time, you know, we kind of have to understand why they are doing that as well.

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Yeah, like I'm sure it's like, you know, slightly more pressure than usual just because it's in such a high-paced environment. Yeah. So I understand that they might need more, you know, more workers or more prepping or more time to do all of that. Like I definitely get that. But it's like when you're already paying so much for a music festival, like just to get in and then like the food is, I mean, like I said, there's situations where it's worth it. So as long as they're making it worth it, cause like I said, a primavera, like I definitely thought the prices, like not necessarily that the prices were the best, but just that it was worth it in the end because it was good food, even though the portions were smaller and it was food that would keep you full for most of the day. So yeah, so like there are situations where it's worth it. And I'm sure in like the local vendors case, it usually would be because, you know, you're helping support small businesses. But you know, when it's like Chipotle or like Nacho Daddy, and they have like these super tiny portions and they're like charging you like 25 bucks. Yeah. No, no, thank you.

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Yeah, yeah.

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You guys can afford it.

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Cause you know, I'm thinking this question that I have is has there been any festival or any vendor that you went to through all your festivals where they got the price right and then they also got the portions right? Has there been any vendor, any festival you've been to where that has happened before? Yeah, yeah

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let me see it was I took a picture of their stand because I really liked it so I'm gonna look for the name right now but it was in Kilby Block Party, the festival that I just went to. They had a Mexican Mexican food stand and like I thought it was really cool because you know the prices weren't that bad, the sizes of the of the food wasn't that bad, you know I definitely thought it was worth it. I don't know it was really cool it was a small a small like local vendor too and you know it's family-owned and I was just like yeah this is the type of food the type of stuff that I want to be supporting. What did you get when you ordered there? Oh I just got some tacos. I'm like tacos are usually always worth it. Yeah yeah.

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They were called prime corn pre-colonial Mexican food. Okay nice, nice. Yeah. And if you don't mind me asking like how many tacos do you get and how much was it just to give the

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listeners an idea. I got like three tacos and I don't remember the price necessarily. I don't remember how much it was but it wasn't that bad. I remember it being like around $10, which you know, it's a festival. So like the fact that you can spend $10 on food is good just because like I had gotten that. And then I also got at this other stand, I got teriyaki chicken. So I'm like, I don't remember which one was what. Cause I remember I, one was $13 and then the other one was like $15. And then the other one was like 10, $11. So I don't remember which one was which but it wasn't that bad.

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Okay, as long as the sizes match the prices, then I mean there's nothing much to complain unless if the food is too salty or too sweet or you know.

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Yeah. So that was surprising because usually with like festival foods you're not going to be paying less than $15 even for like a scoop of ice cream.

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Yeah for sure, I would agree

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And I'm sure it's the same that like Festival like food festivals, too

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Yeah, I would estimate that because you know, but it really depends on who's selling it though. Mm-hmm. I Mean, I'm just trying to be practical but you know, yeah

0:20:39
Yeah, I just um, I don't know. I was gonna say cuz like with the 626 market I've always wanted to go and like it's I think it's funny because you know it's free to get in but then you have to pay Obviously you have to pay the stands and stuff to purchase the food And I've had a lot of friends gone to a lot of friends who have gone and they'll be like oh Yeah, like it was nice and all but like we had to pay like $18 for like a skewer of chicken And like this isn't that and I'm just like oh my god like that's like

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music festival food. Yeah you know I actually wanted to go to the 66 festival this past well May but I was like I was kind of too far but that's like the 66 which is basically the area code one of the area codes in California. I know for a fact that some of the foods kind of came from where I came from so I can say that. I don't know if I want to repeat that there when I can get access in my house but I don't know you know whoever cooks it and whoever is selling it you know that I could change my mind but yeah I I feel like music festivals and food festivals their food and their prices it just seems like it's the same but I don't know if the trend is going to be continuing to be expensive and the portions are going to get smaller and all that. I don't know. What do you predict? Since you're like an almost or a frequent festival goer.

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Um, personally, I think it's going to get, stay as expensive or more expensive. I don't think prices are going to go down, unfortunately. Just going based off of like festival prices alone like the GA tickets because like for example with Life is Beautiful one of the reasons I haven't gone anymore is because we got sold to Rolling Stone and Rolling Stone is just going crazy with the prices. Oh wow. Yeah so I used to pay $300 to go all three days like around three three twenty with taxes whatever right for three days which I mean a hundred per day I think that's fair. Yeah. Rolling Stone is currently charging over 400, like when I checked the price for today, not for today, for this year, it was like 450 for three days. So that's, you know, over $100 more. And now they're doing tier pricing. So it's, you know, every so often, they're going to raise the price even more. So I feel like because of that, that's gonna affect food, like the food too. They're probably gonna be, you know, I don't know if, like if the people who, like the vendors and stuff, I don't know if they get invited or if they have to pay for their spots, but I feel like if they have to pay, they're definitely raising the prices even more. But if they get, like are invited and stuff, I feel like they'll be like oh you know these people are paying 400 $500 to be here they can afford to pay they think they can afford to pay like 20 bucks for a tiny salad I don't know so I I definitely feel like the prices are gonna go down anytime soon.

0:24:05
Yeah, yeah, especially with this economy, but yeah.

0:24:09
Yeah.

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And I think to my last question to pretty much sum up the episode. Now I'm sure that there are some listeners who love going to festivals like you do. Do you have like any tips that you want to give to them? Like you know, stay hydrated, maybe eat before you go to the festival or something? Yeah. Like, what is that? Like, what's your two cents on that?

0:24:31
Yeah, of course. So, you know, my big thing is always staying hydrated. And you know, a lot of festivals, they will let you bring in an empty water bottle and you have their own like little water spots where you can go and refill it. So make sure you always have an empty water bottle with you. Um, and once you're inside, I mean, even if you're like me and you're just going to wait all day at the barricade to see your favorite band, first thing you have to do is go and get that water and then you can run off to the barricade.

0:25:04
So, yeah.

0:25:04
So make sure you have water, stay hydrated. That's the most important thing. Cause you don't want to pass out before the band you want to see even comes on. Um, so yeah, got to make sure you're hydrated. You're gonna be like where where there's a lot of people it's gonna be outside you know it's hot even if it's not like hot hot outside there's gonna be a lot of people so body heat and then you know make sure you have comfortable shoes because you're gonna be standing all day regardless of whether you're running around seeing different artists or you're just at one spot or you're chilling you're so good it's gonna be a lot of walking, a lot of standing, and then look up the food before you go, just so you have an idea of what you want once you're there, because festival food lines are usually really long, like unless you manage to like time it perfectly and get there when everybody's like, when like, like unless you go straight to the food the second you walk in, there's always gonna be a line. So make sure that you know, like you have an idea of what you want, of what vendors are gonna be there. And like I said, sometimes they'll do like festival specific foods or like drinks, food, drinks, whatever. So, you know, you'll get like a co-exclusive food or like a co-exclusive like cookie or like, you know, type of like nacho order that I don't know but yeah um you know it's always good to know what you're going what you're getting yourself into what you're gonna go see um and yeah you know just take care of yourself while you're there make sure you know how to look for heat strokes there's always medical tents and stuff um where they can help you out if you're having issues so make sure you know where those are as well. So going in, know where the food is, what the food is, where the water spots are, and then where the medical tents are. So those are like the big important three things I would say to know, to go in already knowing.

0:27:05
Yeah, for sure. And then even if it's like sunny or not that sunny, sunscreen as well.

0:27:12
Yes, yes. Make sure you are applying sunscreen like crazy because I mean I had my sunscreen At till we block party, and I was applying it and I was okay like you know I tan I don't burn But like everybody else around me was like red from like just the first day They were everybody got super sunburned super red and even then like even then I was still applying my sunscreen and everything and I got, um, I forgot my hat. So I got a sunburn on my scalp. That was not fun. And then my ears got sent, like the top of my ears got sunburned too. So even though I was applying sunscreen, um, but yeah, so it's still, you know, yeah, just make sure you, you put on a lot of sunscreen. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

0:27:56
Do we have any, um, final or concluding comments besides the questions that I

0:28:07
had asked you? I would just say, you know, like I said, look up like the food vendors that are gonna be there and everything and then, you know, just so you can get the full experience because like I said, yeah, your majority of people are probably going like, you know, for the music and to see their favorite bands or whatever. But the food is also a cool part of that experience that you don't want to be missing out on. Because like I said, before when I was younger, I would just go straight to the bands and just be there all day. But now as I've gotten older, I've really realized how cool it is to be at these music festivals and have all these cool food stands that you can go to and you can try so many new things that you've never tried before and that like you might not usually get a chance to try because like I said for example earlier when I mentioned that one place that was from Arizona the hot bamboo I'm like when else are you gonna get a chance to try like you know a bakery from Arizona when you live in Vegas so yeah so just look out for that sort of stuff. It's all part of the festival experience and it makes it all more fun and all the more better. Yeah, I agree. But yeah, like you know, it's just important to check that stuff out in advance just because like I said, you might have some really cool opportunities at these festivals that you may not have anywhere else and it's all part of the experience because you never know what cool gems you'll find. Yeah. Yeah, that's basically everything I have to say.

0:29:41
And then support the local vendors too? Yes, of course. That is a given. I feel like, I mean, just hearing your take on music festivals, like, you know, it could potentially persuade me to maybe go to one of those one day but then again the music choices that I listen to are outside of the they're outside of the status quo so to speak so I can't really um I don't know about that but I mean to support the local vendors for the food yeah I would but then again I also have the dietary restrictions that I've mentioned in previous episodes but you know what I mean if I want to go to for experience just to see that one artist that I want to see on stage or that kind of thing then yeah I might make the trip too but that's just an idea but I wouldn't rule it out but it's just the same.

0:30:33
And I mean you can always just get a one-day pass. Yeah I probably would.

0:30:38
So you can experience a little bit of it. That's true that's true. Hopefully the artist that I want to see will be in that one-day pass because then I'm sure there'll be a variety where it'll be like one artist that I like on this day and then another day and then another day and I'm like yeah I don't I don't know I just just just a thought but you know but yeah so that wraps up this episode my questions all of you well questions I now let's just do question here have you tried music festival foods in the past what do you think of it and kind of just let us know do you agree with Victoria? Do you disagree? You know, you can let us know in our Instagram which is at Unqualified Culinary Critics and our Twitter at let us know in our Instagram which is at Unqualified Culinary Critics and our Twitter at unqclucrit. So anyways everyone, take care, enjoy yourselves, talk to you later. Thank you.

Transcribed with Cockatoo