Much has been made of the fact that Lolla's two main stages are nearly a mile away from each other. A mile! That's how far you'll be running from alt-J to Paul McCartney, or from Tame Impala to Sam Smith, or, less comprehensibly, from Of Monsters and Men to Bassnectar.
The upshot to so much unbidden exercise is you can pretty much eat like a dinosaur all weekend, and Chicago's finest purveyors of fest-food have you covered. There are about forty vendors at this year's festival, and nearly all of them have a wily take on the carb, caffeine, booze, or all three. Check out the entire list of Lolla vendors here, and peruse some particularly inspired items below.
Harris Ice Company's "Suicide"
Every single flavor of snow cone in one: raspberry, cherry, grape, blue (yes), orange (yes), coconut, lime, pineapple and tamarindo.
Labriola Cafe's tater tots
Served with Sriracha mayo. In the middle of the day. Inspired by your high school cafeteria.
Yoberri's bourbon vanilla rootbeer float
$8 of gourmet booze-flavored ice cream and soda—to be drunk before your foray into Perry's Stage.
Dia De Los Tamales's "Nachomale"
Nachos + tamale: Beans, cheese, pickeled jalapeños, salsa, and sour cream served atop a bed of chips and your choice of tamale (pork, chicken, pepper/goat cheese, corn, or black bean).
Tank Noodles's chicken bánh mì
Vietnamese street food co-opted for a mega-fest: butter-sauteed chicken, onions, cucumber, cilantro, and a veiled special sauce served on a baguette.
Graham Elliot's lobster corndog
A Lolla staple served with lemon aioli for the seventh consecutive year. Also appearing at Elliot's temple of weirdness this weekend: truffle parmesan herb popcorn.
DMK's pulled pork sandwich
A nu–fest food tradition served with Carolina mustard sauce.
Wow Bao's spicy box
Two spicy Mongolian beef baos—essentially a Cantonese bun stuffed with a protein of your choosing.
Shrimp and California rolls from Kamehachi
Certainly the only sushi you'll find at Lollapalooza, if not the only pescatarian option all together.
Fayette Creamery's Brazilian grilled cheese on a stick
Technically called queijo de coalh and served with either black rum maple syrup, bacon/pineapple chipotle syrup, or Hatch chiles/hot pepper jelly.
Owen+Alchemy's kale/spinach/apple/lemon juice
Probably the closest you'll get to a real vegetable all weekend.
Puffs of Doom's banana coconut Nutella creampuff
If this isn't the single greatest dessert item at all of Lollapalooza then I just give up.