This Weekend's Eat Real Fest Has a Seriously Crowded Schedule -- Will the Lines be Just as Packed?

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Saturday's butchery contest promises to be every bit as thrilling as Ryan Farr's demo at Bloodhound last month.

​Oakland's ambitious three-day Eat Real Festival celebrating street food is so close we can almost taste it. Organizer Anya Fernald told SFoodie she's excited about "bringing together two worlds by linking affordable street food with local, sustainable food producers -- and doing it all with all our foods priced under $5."

Festivities begin at Jack London Square this Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. with music, beer, movies after dusk, an Edible Pursuit trivia contest, and an ice cream social. Eat Real's Susan Coss said she's especially excited about Friday's canning exchange -- bring your own home-canned goodies for trade or to enter in the Yes I Canned contest -- featuring canning demos with Happy Girl Kitchen and cookbook author Vanessa Barrington on Friday at 6 p.m.

You can get your serious food freak on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., when more than 50 vendors will be offering treats ranging from Vietnamese sandwiches and seafood chowder to cupcakes and ice cream, at prices ranging between $1 and $5. If you've never found the Crème Brulee Man or Sexy Soup Lady from their tweets, now's your chance to access them easily (and legally). The all-encompassing list ranges from high-end Asian street food from award-winning chef Tim Luym of S.F.'s Poleng Lounge, to down-home cooking from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County.

"I love Jim N Nick's BBQ from Birmingham, Alabama," Fernald said. "They're driving their rig up from down South and using it to barbecue gorgeous local pork and turkey from California ranches." She called it a new twist on local.

If you missed out on something at last Saturday's popular S.F. Street Food Festival, a number of the same purveyors will be here, including Chaac Mool, Estrellita's Snacks, and Zella's Soulful Kitchen. "Because Eat Real is free, except for entry to the Beer Shed," Coss said, "we have no way of estimating how many people will show up." So, caveat emptor: The lines may be just as long as the ones on Folsom last week. "But," Coss added, "we have so many other events going on that not everybody will be standing in line at the same time -- we hope!"

(Beer Shed alert: today is the last day to purchase discounted Beer Shed tickets online.)

It may all sound like way too much to digest right now, but better too much on your plate than too little, as far as we're concerned. A few highlights:

• Good to Go, Eat Real's own farmers' market, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat.-Sun.: Four dozen growers and artisans selling produce and hand-made food.

• Cooking demos will unroll at the From Scratch Kitchen during the same hours -- we're intrigued by Sunday's 3 p.m. offering, entitled "The History of the Mexican Popsicle in Oakland," and we'll stick around for the 4 p.m. slot, when Michelle Fuerst of Yes We Can will demonstrate easy home canning and pickling.

• An eclectic bunch of musicians, artists, and activists will hold forth on the Street Stage, Friday afternoon and 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat.-Sun. The lineup includes jazz saxophonist Anton Schwartz Friday at 5:45; Will Scott Jr., founder of African American Farmers of California, at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday; belly-dancing from Deshret Dance at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday; and urban cabaret from Erin Brazill on Sunday morning at 10:30.

• On the main stage, Saturday's 7 p.m. Butchery Contest sounds, well, cutting-edge, with two teams of local guys (Marin Sun Farms vs. guys from Café Rouge, Biagio Artisan Meats, and Willowside Meats) carving up quarter steers in 30 minutes.

• Farm City author Novella Carpenter will lead a tour of her Oakland farmlette at noon Saturday, and at 1 p.m. will serve up snacks of just-picked fruits and vegetables from her plot. Another tour at 5 will be followed by a 7 p.m. Open Grill Dinner -- you bring food to share, there'll be a barbecue setup. Again, it's free, but donations are cheerfully accepted.