Over the past three years, I’ve attended the three major music festivals of the West Coast: Sasquatch!, Outside Lands, and Coachella. When facing twelve-hour days of standing around, braving port-a-potties, and dancing your face off, food is an essential part of the festival experience. These festivals often boast similar music lineups, but vary greatly on the sustenance they offer attendees. So who’s doing it right?
The Good
Inside the Wine Lands tent at Outside Lands.
Outside Lands is the clear champion for me. Complete with Beer Lands, Wine Lands, Chocolands, and a taste of the Bay Area, every palate leaves satisfied. The prices aren’t too outrageous either, especially considering the quality of the food they’re providing you.
What’s more, Outside Lands also hosts Eco Lands which is dedicated to sustainable practices. All of their cutlery and flatware are compostable and not only are the featured vendors local, but many of them source their ingredients locally too. My favorites from last year included grilled corn on the cob, Indian vegetarian plates, and gourmet grilled cheese.
Conclusion: This is how you keep people well fed, happy, and coming back for seconds and thirds… and fourths… You get the idea.
The Bad
One of the many eateries at Coachella.
Coachella, the inspiration for this post, is almost there. As the most expensive of the three festivals, it offers a somewhat varied menu, but certainly not on par with Outside Lands which gives you the most bang for your buck.
As a cheap college student, my group and I chose to camp, so one of Coachella’s greatest contributions to our predicament was their full lineup of food trucks serving the campground. Waking up to a smoothie and a breakfast burrito certainly took the edge off the hot desert sun and dust storms every morning.
Overall, the food spread wasn’t too shabby, but if you wanted to find water to wash it down – good luck. The bottle refilling stations were few and far between, often with broken taps and clogged drains. If you opted for a cold beer instead, it would cost more than your meal and you were limited to one of two varieties.
Conclusion: Coachella is the premier music festival of the season, and, with a few minor changes and additions, might give Outside Lands and Ranger Dave a run for their money.
The Ugly
The Main Stage at Sasquatch! in 2011.
As a Washingtonian, it pains me to name Sasquatch! the worst of the three. I suspect the venue controls most of the food service and therefore won’t allow outside vendors, but what a shame if this is true. It’s putting Sasquatch! far behind the eclectic food, music, and art spreads offered by Outside Lands and Coachella. It’s surprising, too, that even though the festival is held in Washington, a national leader in sustainable practices, there is no discussion of composting or local ingredients.
The best thing Sasquatch! can offer is their iconic “fourteen dollar margaritas.” Ask anyone attendee about this and they’ll know about the red and green Slurpee-style margaritas served in a guitar-shaped glass. It’s more the novelty of the margarita than the margarita itself that makes it special.
As for food, if you want a quesadilla, that’ll cost an arm, fries and chicken strips your leg, and a burrito or anything else remotely resembling a vegetable will cost you your first born child. The food served at Sasquatch! is eaten out of desperation for sustenance but makes you feel heavy and lethargic after digestion while costing you a very pretty penny. Not ideal for a nonstop ragefest in the Columbia River Gorge.
Conclusion: Get creative with what you pack for yourself and don’t leave home without a stove to cook your own food. You won’t find anything appetizing in the Gorge.
In the end, a music fangirl like myself is still likely to make the trek to these venues and survive the weather, hunger, and exhaustion to see my favorite musicians. Hopefully one day the culinary lineups with satisfy both the foodies and the audiophiles.
