Vegan Food at Bonnaroo 2019

Paul and I attended our 9th annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Fest last weekend (it was the 18th annual Bonnaroo but our 9th year going). Since we started going to this massive music fest in Manchester, Tennessee, in 2010, vegan options have always been readily available. But the offerings just get better and better every year. I actually look more forward to the vegan food at 'Roo than the musical acts!

Tonight, I'm posting about all the food I ate in Centeroo, the main festival grounds. Since we camped at the fest, I had plenty of meals back at the campsite too. But I'll save those for a post tomorrow. We arrived on Thursday morning, but we didn't venture away from the campsite until mid-afternoon.

There was a new EDM stage called Where in the Woods, located in the general camping grounds (we stay in guest camping since I'm there to work as media), and we wanted to check it out. So we made the couple-mile trek to general camping. And that's where I saw The Beet Box (in Plaza 4), my favorite food vendor from last year! I tried their beet philly in 2018, so I wanted to try something new this time. I made a great choice with this Beet Burger!

The patty was made from beets and other veggies, served on a buckwheat blini with sunflower aioli and beetchup! SOOOOO good, and I felt like this was a pretty healthy start to my weekend.

Every year, there's a doughnut vendor by the Which Stage handing out free samples, but they're not vegan. Still, I had to pose with their doughnut!

The next day, I ate breakfast at the campsite, but we had to get out fairly early for Yoga-aroo! I've been doing yoga at Roo for years, and last year, I finally convinced Paul to do it with me. He had a great time!

After yoga, we had to pick up our bibs for the annual Roo Run 5K (set for Saturday morning). The bib pick-up was held in Plaza 2 in general camping, so it was another long walk from our campsite. I started to get a little hungry on the walk, so I stopped at Solar Cafe for a Tofu Scramble Wrap.

I've seen Solar Cafe on Bonnaroo's food vendor list on their website for years, but I've never made it over there. It's so far from where we camp, so when I saw it, I knew I wanted to stop! But I didn't realize that everything there is made to order, so my wrap took about 30 minutes. We were standing in the hot sun the whole time, so that was kind of a bummer. But when I finally got my food, it was worth the wait. Noochy sauteed tofu with broccoli, beans, salsa, spinach, and other veggies!

I shoot photos of musical acts for the Memphis Flyer when I'm there. That's my old job, but I still cover Roo for them! I had a few acts on the list to shoot Friday night, including the Avett Brothers and Griz. But I wanted to get something for dinner first. Luckily, these Chana Masala Fries were hot and fast! What a great idea!

You can see the pics I took for the Flyer here, and here's a fun crowd shot at Griz!

Saturday morning was Roo Run time! Paul has been dealing with an achilles injury, but he managed to get 3.1 miles in and still beat me! It's a hot race around the Roo farm with very little shade. My fave thing about this race is that it's hosted by ultrarunning legend Charlie Engle! I got a high-fave from him after the race. 

Later Saturday afternoon, we were wandering around near the Food Truck Oasis (where trucks from all over the country park) when I spotted Vegan Nachos at the Nectar Urban Cantina truck. These were amazing! Topped with a homemade noochy cheese sauce, beans, sweet potatoes, salsa, and lettuce.

On Saturday evening, like 12:30 am (so technically Sunday morning), I saw my favorite act this year — The Lonely Island (Andy Samburg's comedy rap group). Hilarious!

We planned to leave mid-day Sunday so we could get home by the end of the night. Manchester is about six hours away from Memphis. But we took one last stroll through Centeroo to shop for souvenirs and get our last taste of festival food. For me, that was a Vegan Arepa with guac, roasted red peppers, and caramelized onion from the Alma food truck.

This Venezuelan corn cake sandwich was delicious, but it was more snack-sized than meal-sized. Luckily, I knew just the thing to make it a meal! YUCA FRIES! No Roo is complete without a basket of hot, starchy yuca fries. What a perfect way to end a lovely weekend.