So, A Vegetarian Walked Into a Sausage Fest...

...This just has all kinds of dirty joke written all over it. ;-)

Glier's Goettafest was last weekend, and while we fully anticipated that there would be nothing there for us to eat, we decided to check out this local festival anyway. Goetta is a breakfast sausage composed of ground meat, oats, and spices, and it is so popular around here, that there are actually annual festivals devoted to it.

We started off the morning with a stop at Findlay Market.

After we'd walked around the entire market, we ended up buying a yummy pastry for breakfast from Cake Rack.

After sharing that relatively light breakfast, we headed over to Park+Vine for an early lunch. This little store sells eco-friendly merchandise and operates a lunch+brunch counter from 11 AM - 3 PM Monday - Saturday featuring an all-vegan menu.

The place was bustling with kombucha enthusiasts, but we were able to quickly place an order for a GLT (Goetta, lettuce, roasted tomatoes, and veganaise on ciabatta) and a side of Gluten Free Mac & Cheese. We got our lunch to go and drove down to Newport on the Levee to eat along the river while we waited for Goettafest to officially begin.

As we strolled up with our lunch in hand, Francisco remarked that we were probably the only people to bring our own goetta to Goettafest. ;)

There was an informational section that provided more information about goetta because if you're not from Greater Cincinnati, you've probably never heard of goetta. I know I hadn't until I moved here - and it's pronounced "get-uh". I'm pretty sure I first called it "go-etta", but eh, live and learn.

There were all kinds of interesting options for goetta lovers!

However, it did look like there would be rain moving in at any minute, and since we had no intent to actually eat any of the goetta offerings here, we decided it would be best if we moved on.

But our weekend of goetta wasn't over yet! Melt Eclectic Cafe, recently filmed for Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, features a Goetta Melt (Housemade vegan goetta, white cheddar, and pesto baked on Shadeau's multigrain, with fresh tomato and romaine after bake) on their Sunday Brunch menu, so I bet you can guess what I had for breakfast the next morning. ;-)