Empanada Fest SLC returns, featuring empanadas from around the world

SALT LAKE CITY — Hand pies from around the world will be the focus of a food event on Saturday.

Now in its sixth year, Empanada Fest SLC returns, featuring a wide range of empanadas that reflect the tastes and spices of Latin America and beyond. It goes from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and will be held at Granary Live, 742 S. 500 West in Salt Lake City.

"Wherever they may be from, they all have a special and tasty twist," reads the event website. Admission to the event, which will feature live entertainment, is free, but the food isn't.

Seventeen vendors are to take part. Among the many empanada varieties on offer will be versions from Thailand, Colombia, Argentina and Jamaica, among other countries. Ana Valdemoros, the organizer of the event, operates her own locale, Argentina's Best Empanadas, which offers Argentinian empanadas and will be one of the vendors on Saturday.

According to a number of empanada vendors from across the country, April 8 was National Empanada Day. The Empanada Fest SLC website says the Salt Lake City event takes place during National Empanada Week.

Empanadas are increasingly on offer at farmers' markets around Utah. Valdemoros started selling her Argentinian versions at the Downtown Farmers Market in Salt Lake City in 2007 before opening her first brick-and-mortar location in 2017.

While empanada is the term used for the food item in Latin America, their food cousins elsewhere around the world have other names — samosas in the Middle East and India and strombolis in Italy, for instance. However, they are all typically akin to turnovers with meat or other fillings inside.

"Empanadas are pastries that are typically made by folding a dough or bread dough over a filling and then baking or frying the resulting parcel. The fillings for empanadas can vary widely, but they often include meats, cheeses, vegetables and/or fruits," reads the website for Half Moon Empanadas, an empanada eatery that launched in Miami and has spread around the country.

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