Party With a Purpose: Sweetgreen's Sweetlife Festival
This past Saturday, Cooking Channel went behind the scenes of the East Coast’s most eco-friendly music and food event of the season: Sweetgreen's Sweetlife Festival.
Sweetgreen, a DC-based salad restaurant known for locally-sourced ingredients and sustainable practices, is expanding fast and bringing its unique salads and eco-friendly philosophy of “ living the sweetlife” with it. While jamming to indie-pop, alt-rock, electronic and hip-hop, fans chowed down on eco-friendly fare from all-natural chicken sliders to organic kettle corn, all washed down with earth-conscious cocktails.
Check out the best bites paired with the best music from the festival, plus get Sweetgreen’s best salad recipe to try at home:
- Half-Smoke Dog with Sriracha and Hoisin from Toki Underground:
The smoky flavor of this Asian-style dog plays perfectly with a supporting cast of Sriracha, hoisin, cilantro and fresh lime.
The competing Asian flavors in this dog blend together seamlessly, as did the two songs in Avicii's mash-up of Levels vs. Somebody That I Used to Know.
- Pulled Chicken Sliders With Slaw and Roasted Root Vegetables from EcoFriendly Foods:
All-natural pulled chicken pairs perfectly with the vinegary slaw in this slider. Roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips round out the plate.
We call this dish "Sliders 'n' Taters" since we ate it while listening to The Shins play New Slang.
- Whole-Hog Carnitas Tacos with Jalepeños from Rogue 24's R.J. Cooper:
VIP's chowed down on Chef Cooper's tacos, spiced up with peppers and cooled down with limes.
Surprisingly and pleasantly mellow, this dish pairs perfectly with the smooth sounds of Yuna singing Live Your Life.
- Grilled Asparagus Sandwich from FRESHFARM:
Simply grilled fresh asparagus needs nothing more than creamy and tangy goat cheese to become the perfect vegetarian festival vittle.
Also fresh and wild like this asparagus sandwich, LP delivers with Into The Wild.
- Honey Badger Brownie from baked & wired:
Topped with addictive browned butter frosting, toasted pecans, and chocolate drizzle, this Honey Badger Brownie is so wrong, it's right.
Dance off the sugar buzz with Kid Cudi & WZRD performing Memories & Days & Nights.
Here are Cooking Channel's Tips to Live the Sweetlife Everyday:
1. Go biodegradable. Each vendor provided compost-able utensils, cups, and napkins making it easy for the festival foodies to reduce carbon footprints. Grab some today for your parties and picnics, or urge your office to start supplying them!
2. Compost. Your local farmers will thank you, and so will the earth. Fat Worm Composting was at the Sweetlife festival, greatly reducing the amount of waste going to the landfill post-concert. Learn more fast composting facts here.
3. Eat local. Make friends with the people who grow your strawberries and asparagus this spring at a local farmers' market in your community. It will be a rewarding, and delicious, way to live the sweetlife.
Until next year, we'll be living the sweetlife. It was really FUN. ( the band, that is).
