One of the best things about Ann Arbor is the way it smells. The highly intense competition between downtown’s restaurants means that you can sometimes smell the competing cuisines as you walk down the sidewalk—a choose your own adventure of cuisines from all over the world. That cosmopolitan culinary spirit perhaps comes out best during the Taste of Ann Arbor, which took place this year on the last day of May.
“This is about what I was expecting,” David Rose, an Ann Arbor resident who went for the first time, said. He had been to the larger Taste of Chicago before too and said “I was expecting a few more booths participating, but by large I’m happy.” He was holding a chicken tiki masala from Shalimar’s while speaking with us and said it “was from a place I’ve never tried before … I would certainly come back in the future.”
Thousands of people flooded the temporarily pedestrianized some of Main Street from the courthouse to William Street. They included at least 100 people who had just finished participating in the Dexter to Ann Arbor marathon that had finished just a block or two north of the festival. The participating restaurants were Vinology, Grizzly Peak, The Graduate, Mindo Chocolate Makers, Aventura, Slow’s BBQ, The Blue Nile, Hao Chi, Ashley’s, the Washteanw Dairy, Triumveriate Catering, Pretzel Bell, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Cups ‘n’ Chai, Shalimar, Ritespice Kitchen, the Jolly Pumpkin and Bori, Conor O’Niell’s, The Chop House, Moka & Co., The Real Seafood Company, Chop Detroit, and Palio.
“I am using it as an opportunity to try places I haven’t yet. I normally don’t go to restaurants, so it was a good opportunity for me to try different things,” attendee Georgia Oakwood told Current. “I think the vibes are really great. There’s a mix of families, and its just upbeat.”
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The City of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations was there too, giving away free disposable cutlery made out of bamboo. They also had reusable plastic bowls that they were having some of the booths use.
“We’ve partnered with Bold Reuse and Silo to bring in boats for food, and cups for non-alcoholic drinks, to try to minimize the amount of single use plastic that we’re tossing, and even the compost that’s going in. We really want to get to a returnable system, so we’re testing it for the first time here, to the tune of 18,000 pieces,” Missy Stults, the OSI Director, explains. “I would say almost everybody is glad we’re here. Even if they don’t know our office, they’re super excited at the idea of having reusables and not using single use plastic, and our office. About 50 percent know us and 50 percent don’t. I think that probably makes sense though because this event draws non-Ann Arborites too.”
Not every booth had them. But at lot of them did and the OSI is planning on making these reusable and washable alternatives to plastic, cardboard or Styrofoam ubiquitous in Ann Arbor in the near future.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
