18 Festival Foods You Must Eat Before You Die

Long gone are the days of grimy burger vans and surviving on cereal bars.

1. The Cheese Truck

The Cheese Truck / Via Facebook: thecheesetruck

The Cheese Truck celebrates the best of British cheese by melting an absolute ton of it between hearty slabs of bread with toppings, resulting in mouthwatering grilled cheese sandwiches.

Festivals: Wilderness, Festival No. 6, Green Man, Bestival, Common People, Lovebox, Glastonbury, Blue Dot, Port Eliot, End of the Road

2. Pho Sho

Pho Sho / Via Facebook: PhoShoLondon

One of London's latest street food eateries, Pho Sho is hitting the road this summer, taking along with it a take on Vietnamese food that specialises in pho, bun cha, and pork belly bahn mi.

Festivals: Shambala, Camp Bestival

3. Anna Mae’s Mac 'n' Cheese

Anna Maes / Via anna-maes.com

Anna Mae's is already famous in London for knocking up some of the tastiest street food in the city through its mac 'n' cheese dishes. One such dish finding its way to various music festivals this year will be the pictured mac, served with crispy bacon, basil oil, and fresh basil.

Festivals: Festival No. 6, Shambala, Green Man, Secret Garden Party, Wilderness, Field Day, Glastonbury

4. The Bell & Brisket

The Bell & Brisket / Via thebrisket.co.uk

This multiple award–winning street food eatery focuses on salt beef bagels, stuffing huge slabs of salt beef along with pickles, krauts, sauces, and cheeses into bagels and between slices of crusty rye bread.

Festivals: End of the Road

5. Twisted Burger Company

Twisted Burger Co. / Via Facebook: TwistedBurgerCompany

The Twisted Burger Company makes huge, stuffed burgers that include excellent options for veggies and vegans, along with loaded fries, thick shakes, and varied sides of everything from falafel to slaw. The menu is music-themed, from the Return of the Mac burger to the Cheesus Walks manchego cheese sauce. Sheffield's Toddla T will even be designing his own burger for TBC for the duration of the city's Tramlines festival.

Festivals: Tramlines, Glastonbury

6. Cafe Môr

Cafe Mor

Run by the Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company, Cafe Môr is an award-winning street food stall that serves up fresh seafood such as lobster and crab. It even makes its own Welsh caviar, as featured in the pictured rum and mustard glaze smoked-salmon club sandwich, which also comes with avocado and pickled cucumber.

Festivals: Glastonbury, Green Man, Wilderness, Big Festival

7. The Hip Hop Chip Shop

Hip Hop Chip Shop / Via thehiphopchipshop.com

"Imaginative and untraditional fish & chips inspired by the inventive and experimental ethos of hip hop culture" is the strapline for the Hip Hop Chip Shop. One such hip-hop–inspired dish is the Feastie Boys box, which consists of Golden Era Beer-battered sustainable fish biters, triple-cooked skin-on Maris Piper chips, chilli-batter onion "blings", and minty mushy peas.

Festivals: Parklife, Secret Garden Party, Kendall Calling

8. Happy Maki

Happy Maki / Via happymaki.co.uk!home/mainPage

Happy Maki specialises in freshly rolled vegan sushi. Its Renault Estafette (nicknamed Gloria) will be cropping up at numerous festivals throughout the year, serving up such dishes as its Thai Sweet Potato maki wrap, which is filled with sweet potato wedges, roasted coconut, avocado, cucumber, coriander, red pepper, and teriyaki sauce.

Festivals: Field Day, Love Supreme, Latitude, Secret Garden Party, Camp Bestival, End of the Road, Festival No. 6, Port Elliot, Shambala

9. White Men Can't Jerk

White Men Can't Jerk / Via Facebook: WhiteMenCantJerk

Based in London this street food vendor serves food based on a love of all things Caribbean – and Wesley Snipes films, it seems – but with a twist. Think curried mutton shepherd’s pie with a sweet potato mash topping, Red Stripe-poached fried chicken wings, and its signature jerk chicken, cooked on a custom-made smoking grill. Veggies can opt for jerk bean burgers, jerk halloumi, or tobago casserole.

Festivals: Field Day

10. Mother Clucker

Mother Clucker / Via Facebook: cluckyoutoo

Some of London's finest fried chicken is making its way to various music festivals this summer courtesy of Mother Clucker. Expect tea-brined, buttermilk-soaked, twice-battered fried chicken, along with cajun fries and other goodness.

Festivals: Field Day, Lovebox, Visions, Red Rooster, Citadel

11. Voodoo Ray’s

Voodoo Ray's / Via Facebook: VoodooRays

Massive New York style pizza. Plain and simple. Already well-loved in London, Voodoo Ray's will be hitting the road this summer to take its huge slices around the country.

Festivals: Field Day, Lost Villages, Glastonbury, Lovebox

12. Feral Food Store

FFS / Via Twitter: @FeralFoodStore

This is self-described "dirty vegan" food and it's as close to junk food as a vegan diet will allow. One such dish on offer is the burger above, which is stuffed with smoked tofu, tahini and coconut yoghurt, picked chilli, sumac, tomato, and pomegranate.

Festivals: Festival No. 6, Green Man

13. Mango Rays

Mango Rays / Via mangorays.co.uk

When not travelling the length and breadth of the country to feed stomachs at music festivals, Mango Rays is based in Manchester. It specialises in chillies, nachos, and curries and also has its own cheese and ale bar, which stocks over 20 different cheeses alongside wines, local breads, homemade chutneys, and real ales to compliment each flavour.

Festivals: Deershed, Glastonbury, Kendall Calling, Beat-Herder

14. Barnaby Sykes, Pie Maker

Barnaby Sykes / Via barnabysykes.co.uk

Good-quality homemade pies is the name of the game here, made from locally sourced ingredients and then served with generous portions of creamy mash (or chunky chips), proper gravy, and mushy peas.

Festivals: End of the Road, Secret Garden Party, Parklife, Camp Bestival, Green Man, Blue Dot, Common People

15. Luardos

Luardos / Via Facebook: 221726014541070

Luardos focuses on one thing and does it very well: burritos. Meat and veggie options are available, and the tortillas are stuffed to the brim, making Luardos a surefire way to send that hangover packing and shake off the lack of sleep caused by "that" person in the tent next to you who decided to bring an acoustic guitar.

Festivals: Camp Bestival, Lovebox, End of the Road, Field Day

16. Ghandi’s Flip Flop

Ghandi's Flip Flop / Via facebook.com

Specialising in vegetarian indian food, this Cumbria-based stall knocks up a vegetable kedgeree (pictured) for breakfast and a series of curries throughout the rest of the day and night. Vegans are very well-catered for too, such as with the kathi roll dish: a roti bread filled with spiced chickpeas and peppers, topped with cucumber and mint raita, dressed cabbage, and a coriander and onion salad.

Festivals: Kendal Calling, Green Man

17. Goan Seafood Company

The Goan Seafood Company / Via Facebook: GoanCurrie

Based in Cornwall, the Goan Seafood Company focuses on plucking the freshest fish from its local waters and turning them into curries. At various places this summer, you can ease your morning hangover with a kedgeree breakfast or lunch from its stall, while at dinner it provides dishes such as Goan fish curry, Goan mackerel masala dahl, and fish caldine.

Festivals: Green Man, End of the Road, Womad, Glastonbury, Larmer Tree

18. Tim Peaks Coffee

Tim Peaks / Via timpeaks.co.uk

Initially starting as a bit of an in-joke between Twitter followers, this rolling coffee business, which goes to festivals across the country, was started by Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess. The focus is on his own blend of Fair Trade coffee, but Tim Peaks also serves a tasty selection of cakes and sweets.

Festivals: Kendal Calling, Field Day, Festival No. 6, Isle of Wight, Forgotten Fields