Welcome back to the American Style Coachella Diaries. Ahead of weekend 2’s kick off today, I’m sharing notes on the ideal Coachella diet from the beautiful Sakura Smith, a real California girl and the baker behind Bagel Bunny, the hottest fermented bagels in New York. Sakura and I have been Instagram friends for years, but I ran into her for the first time a couple weeks ago when she was behind the counter at a bakery in the Lower East Side.
To me, Sakura is the epitome of an “I’ll have what she’s having” gal, meaning I’ll have what Sakura’s having, please! She is always eating or making something exquisite and delicious and overall emits a sort of earthy but ethereal energy which is reflected in her food and style. I’m sure that the cinnamon sugar and salted soft pretzels I ordered the day we met tasted a little better because it was Sakura handed them to me.
Here’s Sakura on what to eat at Coachella (corn dogs, tequila and coconut water, wagyu skewers), texted straight from the desert.
Name: Sakura Smith
Occupation: A Bagel bunny, baker. Occasional writer, artist, producer.
Hometown/where you live now: LA/New York
Where you’re staying: A house in Palm Springs
Is this your first Coachella? Yes!
Why you’re here: I grew up in LA and never chose to go. My boyfriend works in music so I thought maybe this is the year I should go.
Who/what you’re most excited to see: Gaga
and staring at all the people
How you got to Coachella (car… bus…): Plane + car
Yesterday [day 1, Friday], I started with so much liquid. Water. Electrolytes (LMNT), chicken bone broth, matcha, Yerba mate. And I was still parched at the end of the day. I doubled up on wellness formula. Breakfast was bacon and zucchini eggs.
There was a Nobu too. I think it was $300 per person. The last thing I want is sushi in the dirt.
Before going you must rest, swim, suntan. Eat chips and salsa by the pool. Don't start drinking until 2? Before leaving we made one tequila coconut water (my warm weather drink of choice). I had a sheep’s milk yogurt and granola too. (Wild move?)
Once there…
Eat what sounds good in the heat. I was waiting for a corn dog but I never walked by the booth again.
The VIP food area was all of the trendy LA food spots. There was even a Prince Street Pizza. I could have had a lobster roll, a KazuNori hand roll, uni ice cream or caviar French fries.
There was a Nobu too. I think it was $300 per person. The last thing I want is sushi in the dirt.
I opted for wagyu skewers and tater tots. Drew [Sakura’s boyfriend] had a spring roll that was too hot so it got stuck to the paper, but it somehow was so refreshing.
My critical feedback is we need more access to water around the stages at Coachella. Though every food vendor sold water that was $2 which seems reasonable compared to food prices? My plan for Sunday is to fuel with a corndog.
Post show — we chugged waters, ate Amy’s pizza pockets, and frozen Nerd clusters. And these Japanese chocolates I love to freeze.
On Sunday, Sakura texted me a pic of her “current fuel” — an In-N-Out burger poolside. We agree that burgers are an underrated fuel source. Protein, carbs, hand-held, boom.
Other fuel encounters included an enormous breakfast burrito, boyfriend PB&J (Editorial note: I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches often. They can get you places) and mushroom Ferrero Rocher.
There was also a trip to a grocery store called Natures, which had a refrigerator stocked with: egg salad sandwiches (eggs, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, vegan mayo, $9, exp: 4/13), mock egg sandwiches (tofu, yeast flakes, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, vegan mayo, $8.50, exp: 4/15), un-turkey sandwiches (soy turkey, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, vegan mayo, $8.50, exp: 4/15), vegan cinnamon rolls (100% vegan, no soy, organic, handmade, never frozen), gluten-free blueberry and vanilla bean cheesecakes (filled w/ blueberries, handmade, $6.99), organic watermelon ($3.50, exp: 4/18) and deviled eggs (organic egg, veganaise, mustard, relish, onion, parsley, olives, $5.95., exp: 4/18).
Before Sakura shares her post-festival recovery meal, I want to tell you a little about what I was eating at the music festivals of my teenage years, namely Bonnaroo, which I attended for a few summers in the punishing Tennessee heat. I was around 16 the first time I went and my friends and we thought it necessary to properly prepare for the big weekend that was going to change our lives. So we practiced pitching a tent, and for some confounding reason, decided to bake a dozen miniature loaves of zucchini bread. I don’t remember bringing any other food.
We camped next to these guys from Chicago who were named Jimmy and Dean. We thought this was hilarious and called them Tom and Jerry behind their backs. We let them share our campsite and our cooler because they just had one flimsy tent (girls, keep your campsite). At some point the cooler was mismanaged and all the ice inside melted — our loaves of mini zucchini bread were toast, capsized. I don’t remember missing them, by then we’d already found the famous $1 garlic grilled cheese stand, run by a woman with honey-blonde dreadlocks.
Now back to Sakura to wrap up the weekend.
Best thing you ate: Breakfast burrito (off site)
Corn dog (on site, might be because I was hyping it up all week in my mind.)
Worst thing you ate: I honestly didn’t spend a lot of time eating. So truly nothing that bad.
Most Coachella food at Coachella: Nobu
Food you wanna see at Coachella next year: Shaved ice machines
So, the festival is over. You made it out of the desert, dirt Nobu is in your rearview and the Nobu on La Cienega is flickering on the horizon. You can’t wait to get home and shower off the dust, dirt and the sins of the weekend (if the sins are only that you thought unkind things about the influencers taking pics in bad boho). What do you eat first?
Sakura recommends daikon and beef soup and japchae, preferably eaten at your parents’ house. You can find her mom’s japchae recipe here.
This is the second installment in the American Style Coachella Diaries. Up next… backstage things… a trend report from more anthropologygirls with boots on the ground (OnlyFans cowgirls, Luigi-core)... who knows what weekend 2 will stir up.
PLUR!
Great one. Sak’s letter is one of the all timers
Thinking about my bestie who just takes a weekends worth of calories via baby food in squeeze packets whenever she goes to a festival... I'm still undecided if it's deranged or genius.