Was the well-intentioned, 1st Annual Los Angeles Street Food Fest a disappointment?  According to Twitter, the answer is yes.

A Twitpic of the massive lines at the LA Street Food Fest from seeson

I actually first heard about the Street Food Fest on Twitter.  A few days ago, one of the food trucks I follow mentioned that they might be at the fest.  I had forgotten all about it until I realized this morning that today was event day.  I went to the official website for more information and my mouth started to water.

Many of the city’s popular and trendy food trucks were gathering for the day.  They were offering special menus of small bites and keeping prices low so foodies could sample a bit of everything.  All that separated me from street food heaven was a short subway ride downtown and a $5 entrance fee.

Or so I thought.

One of the great things about Twitter, if not the best thing, is the search function.  Where else can one find real-time answers and opinions?  I was confident that there would be at least a few people who would be tweeting from the fest.  I entered a search for “street food fest” so I could get a sense of what the scene was like downtown.

The results started pouring in. Some were only a few seconds old. My eyes widen and my mouth got dry.

People were comparing the lines to lines at Disneyland. LinLorienelen said they were like Depression-era food lines.  Others had waited 40 minutes just to gain entrance to the fest, plus another 30 minutes waiting in line to order and then another 30 minutes to get their order.  What happened to being able to float from vendor to vendor and sample everything?  I was discouraged, to say the least, and then I saw this video from mochipark who tweeted, “If you’re not already at the street food fest, stay away. Way away.”

That was all I need to see (I had to laugh at the person saying “I’m still hungry!”).  I’m not a very patient person, even less so when it comes to food.  As the day progressed, I kept checking Twitter to see if the situation was changing.  It only got worse.  Several tweets talked of waiting over an hour and a half for entry only to be turned away. Yes, turned away! (Why bother waiting that long in the first place?!) The organizers had to nip the problem in the bud, although it was way too late by then. The turnout and demand was overwhelming. Many vendors rain out of food by 2 PM, even though the festival was scheduled to go until 5.  It was difficult for most to try more than one vendor, and the waiting, great Jebus, the waiting!

I hope that next year (if there is a next year), the venue will be larger and the event more organized. Though really, I don’t know what they could have done differently this year and I don’t blame the organizers.  This is the power of the internet and of social media. News of the street fest spread across the web like wildfire and everyone and their uncle showed up.  In my search results, I saw that tons of people were on their way downtown. Did they not know what was going on? Did they not care? I wonder how many people actually use the Twitter search function like I do.  I felt bad for those who tweeted, “On my way to the L.A. Street Food Fest. So hungry!”  Yeah, good luck satisfying that hunger in the next 2 hours. I’m sure it didn’t help that today was gorgeous, sunny and warm.  Strangely, the official Twitter account for the fest was silent today.  I’d like to imagine that those behind the account were too busy spending the day going “Oh. Shit.”

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