Carrot Hot Dog

Published June 22, 2019

Earlier this month at the We Love Green music festival held just outside of Paris in the Bois de Vincennes, our food stand, the Asado Club, dished out nearly 6,000 portions. For an event that lasts only two days, and for a relatively small food market stand that usually only does around 200 servings per day, that is quite the accomplishment.

Organizing for such a large-scale event was new to me. Never could I have imagined ordering the 600 kilograms of hamburger, or 25 buckets of creme fraiche, or even the four palettes of buns we would eventually need to bring the whole thing together.

Still, it was a fine balance. Sure, we wanted to increase our sales from last year and this would require us to be ambitious, but we didn’t want to end up with a bunch of unsold food either.

One cool thing about We Love Green is that, unlike many music festivals, the organizers have a mission to reduce greenhouse gasses. Food-service providers, being one of the highest contributors to greenhouse gases at such festivals, are a huge focus for the organizers. All caterers are expected to provide 100-per-cent traceability for their ingredients and a minimum percentage of the food they serve food must be not only local but organic. This year, in addition to these requirements, festival organizers also requested a 20-per-cent reduction in meat portion sizes, as well as a minimum of one vegetarian recipe on every menu.

The local and organic criteria weren’t hugely challenging for us, as we already do our best to source high-quality, responsible ingredients for our food stand. However, being that we generally focus on Argentinian-inspired classics like chorizo and other barbecued meats, the vegetarian option provided a little trickier.

It was during my research for this menu item that I came across the carrot dog. It’s pretty much what you might think it is: A carrot that has been pre-cooked and marinated, then grilled and served in a bun as if it were a hot dog. Most recipes I came across kept the garnishes classic (ketchup, mustard and the like), but I wanted to shake things up a bit. Smoked hummus and crushed potato chips are some of the highlights.

Smoked paprika gives the hummus and the carrot itself a meatier vibe, but for those who worry this might take away from the vegetarian-ness of this recipe, rest assured that you will still undoubtedly be eating a carrot, a very delicious one at that.

Link to recipe here.