There’s no doubt – the food at this weekend’s Eat Real Festival in Jack London Square was mighty tasty.

Lines stretched far for handmade pupusas, crème brulee, dim sum, bao buns, barbeque, elote and, of course, a gorgeous and diverse array of tacos. Nearly 100 food vendors served up their sweet and savory specialties, highlighting local dairy, produce and hormone-free meat.

Even the vendors who wouldn’t normally use sustainably farmed products in their fare were doing so this weekend, since featuring at least one local, sustainable ingredient was a requirement for participating in the festival. And for those vendors without their own source of responsibly produced ingredients, the Eat Real staff was on hand to connect them with local farmers or distributors.

By emphasizing fresh and local ingredients, Eat Real was aiming to bring farmers, food producers and eaters together. It seems the festival hit its mark. People who came to eat learned where the pork in their carnitas tacos came from, how to keep bees and chickens in urban settings and how to make their own cheese and preserves from locally harvested ingredients.

While some of this information may not be new to those already initiated in the good food movement, Eat Real seemed to reach a much broader audience. With an estimated 100,000 in attendance, the festival attracted a diverse community.  As Nikki Henderson, executive director of People’s Grocery, put it, “This festival doesn’t just attract true believers.”

For Henderson and her team, Eat Real was an opportunity to raise awareness about food justice and the crucial work of ensuring everyone has access to fresh, healthy food regardless of income.

“For many here, the term ‘food justice’ doesn’t register,” Henderson said. “We’re reaching out to the unconverted and reaching a broader audience.”

Jonathan Darr, People’s Grocery development director, saw the festival as a place where foodie culture meets food justice, a place for larger conversations to begin.

“Let’s talk about access to food and who’s growing it,” he said. “People here are really open to that conversation. Are the problems with behavior or with systems?”

Along with People’s Grocery, the community partners for the event were La Cocina, which helps low-income food entrepreneurs cultivate their businesses, and Community Alliance with Family Farmers, which advocates for California family farmers and sustainable agriculture. Distinct from event sponsors, like Whole Foods, community partners helped spread the word of the Eat Real Festival through their networks in exchange for collaborative fundraising efforts and a share of the festival profits (if there are any).

“We want these festivals to reconnect people to their food sources,” said festival director Susan Coss. “At our most ambitious, we are reconnecting with and helping to revitalize regional food systems.”

And addressing the all-important waste portion of our food systems, efforts to keep Eat Real’s environmental impact to a minimum were evident throughout the festival. “Hydration stations,” where you could fill your cup or bottle with free filtered water, were set up as alternatives to bottled water. And the festival hired Green Mary Zero Waste Events to manage the day’s waste; bins were marked for compost, recycling and landfill and Green Mary’s staff were visible throughout the weekend, sorting and collecting refuse as bins filled.

“If we want to change our food system at all, we need to be reaching a very different range of people,” Coss said.

Eat Real did just that, creating a diverse weekend celebration that helped spread awareness about the importance of universal access to healthy, sustainable and affordable food.