A Trip to the Fojol Brothers of Benethiopia

What more All-American way to celebrate the Fourth of July than to cut out of work early and travel to the exotic climes of Benethipioa, and the Fojol Brothers food truck?  I headed out of work early on Friday, and set off with Awesome Wife on our hybrid bikes from Old Town, pointed squarely at the State Department, with the goal of having some vegan food at the Benethiopian Embassy (er, food truck).

As you'll learn the more you read this blog, I'm pretty obsessed with cycling and healthy vegan eating.  I spent the past 8 years eating a lot of bagels and soup from the Au Bon Pain in my office building downtown.  Now, I've settled in on the food truck craze as the perfect way to nutrition up, and eat some pretty good food.

We arrived at 21st  and Virginia Ave about 1 pm, and the joint was jumping. A long line of what seemed to be mostly State Department employees were waiting to enjoy some fresh injera with four options (only three of which will be mentioned here, as we don't concern ourselves with the meat): Berbere Lentils, Split Peas, and Carrots and Green Beans. While we were waiting, folks were grooving to the cool tunes pumped out over the truck's sound system, although no one opted to partake of the hula hoops (guess the State Department folks are too buttoned-down).  The wait was fairly short, and I was at the window pretty quickly, where the costumed and friendly staff took my order (oddly, Benethopians appear to dress in quasi-Indian garb, and wear Mario Brothers-style mustaches.)

We got the Lentils and the Split Peas.  The food is served on a bed of injera, which is a thin pancakey bread with a sort of fermented sourdough flavor, along with a stack of extra injera.  To reduce the calories and make the food a little lighter, I toss the stack of injera, and just use the base--that means the heresy of a fork (or Sfork, in this case). It means you avoid the post-food coma that might come from eating all the bread, much as you will want to.

The lentils are a little spicy, and in a red sauce, made with Berbere paste which is pretty standard Ethiopian or Eritrean fare.  They make it without the heavy butter that one finds in some local restaurants, using a base of onions instead.  The split peas? Not sure how they make them, but they are both vegan, according to the staff, and freakin' delicious.  I confess, I love split peas in any form, but these are so good that both Awesome Wife and I finished them and then squeezed out the last bits from the injera beneath.

One more nice touch, the crew set blankets out in the park, so for those who didn't have to rush back to solving the world's problems, we could settle back on Benethiopian sovereign territory and enjoy the beautiful day without having to squat on the curb.

This is one of my favorite trucks, and rates first mention in the series.  We'll revisit this land again, and try some different options--they keep to a pretty regular schedule, so check them out at their website or on Twitter.