Bonnaroo Cuisine - This Ain't No Woodstock

by Emily Farris, Posted Jun 16th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Photo: A sad culinary scene at Bonnaroo

Nearly 80,000 people descended on a farm in Manchester, Tenn., last weekend for Bonnaroo, a four-day music festival headlined by 1990s jam band Phish and rock star Bruce Springsteen. Because most of the attendees camped on the 700-acre site -- and individual tickets started at a whopping $225 -- most festival goers opted to forgo food from pricey vendors and rough it.

By noon each day campsites were filled with empty PBR cans, half-empty industrial-sized jars of generic peanut butter and remnants of canned beans warmed over propane ranges. A few industrious music lovers, however, weren't going to let a lack of gas or electricity keep them from eating well.

More photos, bison chili, pork chops and Rotel after the jump.

On Friday, Canadian Devin Dehne, 23, decided to make a bison chili spiked with onion, habanero peppers and various spices over an open flame. "I just put a bunch of stuff in there," he said nonchalantly, holding up a gallon-size Ziploc bag of the leftovers that he and his (ridiculously lucky) friends enjoyed with eggs the next morning.

Photo: Devin Dehne and his chili leftovers

While the Heartless Bastards played inside the festival grounds on Saturday afternoon, Jason Smith, 27, grilled pork chops on a George Foreman Grill connected to a generator. The Nashville native had marinated and vacuum packed the chops along with chicken and a London broil to ensure that he and his six friends were well fed.

"We're from the South; we cook," he said as he held a cigarette in one hand and flipped a chop with the other. But he was quick to admit that he wasn't always so well equipped for eating under the stars. "This is our fifth year at Bonnaroo, and our first year we showed up with nothing but beer and a tent."

Photo: Jason Smith grills marinated pork chops

Danielle Larson, a 24-year-old from Chatanooga, Tenn,. did a little better than Smith in his first year. She and her friend Nora Collins, 22, decided they would prepare at least one warm meal -- a queso sauce mixed with Rotel (called simply "Rotel" by some Midwesterners) -- while at Bonnaroo.

But when it came time to mix the melted Velveeta with a can of Rotel tomatoes, Larson realized she had forgotten a can opener. Luckily, she had a pocket knife and was able slowly but surely pry her way to cheesy goodness.

Photo: Danielle Larson conquers the can

A few campsites over, Doug DePriest, 51, who had traveled to Bonnaroo with his family, decided he was more concerned with keeping his food cool in the 80-something degree heat than with what he was serving. DePriest says he "scaled way back" on his second trip to the festival because he learned his kids would rather listen to music than eat. "We had so much stuff leftover last year."

Still, that didn't stop him from packing his 124-gallon Igloo cooler with hamburger meat, hotdogs, salad fixings and shrimp cocktail. DePriest spent about $300 to feed a family of four for the weekend -- not including a cooling system that would have made Alton Brown proud.

"It's all about the dry ice" he told us, digging through deli meat and Gatorade to reveal the bottom of his cooler. "Put down a base of dry ice and then cover it with frozen water bottles. You could put whole chickens in here and they'd be perfect."

Photo: Doug DePriest's stocked cooler

Overall, though, non-perishables reigned supreme at Bonnaroo because, as DePriest noted, the festival was more about the music than the food .. unless, of course, magic brownies are involved. (Which, of course, they were).

Filed Under: Trends
Tags: bison chili, BisonChili, bonnaroo, bonnaroo festival, BonnarooFestival, camping, Emily Farris, EmilyFarris, grilling, magic brownies, MagicBrownies, music festival, MusicFestival, PBR, pork chops, PorkChops

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-16-2009 @11:47AM Chad said... Food is one of the best parts of Rothbury. Since it's the "green" festival, the food court is mostly local businesses specializing in green, organic, healthy, vegan, etc. types of food. Oh and it's all very reasonably priced.
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6-16-2009 @12:43PM Rose said... Great article!
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6-17-2009 @5:15PM AshinMT said... Ahh... at Bonnaroo a few years ago me and my girlfriends probably ate 2 quesadillas the whole time.. and maybe some brownies... good times.
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