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The 25th Monterey Bay Blues Festival, starting today, pours out a prodigious lineup of entertainers, as the Weekly's Adam Joseph ably articulated in his just-published piece "Blues Babies: The Monterey Bay Blues Festival celebrates 25 years with a female tour de force and Grammy-worthy zydeco."

But there are two things that I love as much as the MBBF music that didn't find mention in that piece: the people watching and the food.

No other festival brings as colorful a crowd—the dread-heads at the Reggae Fest are a distant second. And no other festival's identity is so vibrantly present in the grub.

The Blues Fest the first place I had a bag of Cajun crawdads. Hush puppies don't come barking around this area too often, but this event brings a litter of 'em. The zesty jambalayas will be jamming. Red beans and rice will proliferate, and the gumbo will be jumbo: One of the can't miss booths, Cajun Coastal Catering (521-9959)—a sibling business to Seaside's ever-awesome Breakfast Club—will be simmering up gallons of the stuff.

Here's just a peek at some of the many vendors:

Antojitos Mexicano Hurache, B Food International, Barretts Lemonade, Caesar’s Etc., Café 316, Cajun Coastal Catering, Calamari’s, Carmel Pizza Company, Classic Thai BBQ, Fruit Friz, Fun-L-Cakes, Hot Shots Espresso, Indian Clay Oven, JW’s BBQ & Catering, Kim Won Inc., LA Cajun Enterprises, Louisiana Catfish, Mom’s Home Cooking, Nik of Thyme, Nita Bee’s Tastys, Olde Tyme Kettle Korn, One Stop Jamaican Food, Person Catering, Roasted Corn, Romannose Indian Tacos & Frybread, Sadie Mae’s Catering, Shambia Café, Silver Angels, Taste of Mexico, Willie Bird Turkeys, Won Ju, and Woodie’s World of Wings.

Tasty stuff.