Bwog could not have asked for a better point of refuge from today’s inclement winds and spitting rain than the Taste of Morningside Heights tent on Low Plaza, organized by Inside New York with help from the Center for Career Education and Bacchanal. Once inside the tent, we encountered delights far exceeding our imagination as well as the meager $5 charity entrance fee.

We started our trip through local culinary heaven with Terrace in the Sky‘s hamachi with fish eggs, followed by shot glasses of spiced green tea with cucumber and carrot. There were also Milano sandwiches, vanilla flan and, uh, free drink stirrers from Havana Central, delicious slices of baguette from Community with olive tapenade and a fennel spread, and pretzels from Silver Moon Bakery.

The crowd, which included many locals somewhat confused by the hordes of hungry undergrads, seemed to especially enjoy Mama Mexico‘s guacamole and their breaded shrimp. Campo and Cafe du Soleil offered almost identical mozzarella and tomato crostinis. The mystery wrapped inside an enigma that is Camille‘s dished out even more confusion: pasta salad, lemon squares, brown rice and brownies that had no taste.

The inside of the tent was a mess: there were spilled green teas and lumps of guacamole everywhere, and we had to wade through discarded water bottles and plastic bags on our way to our third Lime Leaf spring roll. One frightened-looking Prospie lad, who had abandoned his sleeping bag on the wet ground as he dug into his snack, admitted that, despite the carnage, “this is a good reason to come to Columbia.”

These sentiments were echoed by the man at the front of the longest line under the tent: the crepe-creator of Crepes on Columbus. As we waited for our Nutella and strawberry crepes, he sang to us: “dreams come true at Columbia, I’m going to make your dreams come true.” And he did. Thanks for the best food coma ever, Bacchanal. 

-ECS