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We all know how aggravating street festival season can be in Baltimore—no parking in the neighborhood, streets blocked off from traffic, the deafening drone of gas-powered generators set up underneath your apartment windows. But what’s that smell? Is it the greasy, trans-fat laden scent of fried Twinkies? The thick smoky odor of lamb on a spit, begging to be piled into a pita and slathered in tzatziki sauce, raw onions, and tomatoes? The oily tang of hot dogs simmering in a stainless-steel vat of lukewarm water all day? Oh yes, with the curse of festival season comes the blessing of all manner of cheap eats, from fried dough to pit beef, from crab cakes to deep-fried shiitake mushrooms. All summer long the city’s neighborhoods are hosting ethnic fairs, music fests, and neighborhood block parties, and each one offers a plethora of fine food served from steam trays, carts, and trailers. It’s already late in the summer, so you’ve missed some of our favorite festival smorgasbords—the St. Nicholas Greek Folk Festival, the Polish Festival, and LatinoFest have all happened already—but during the remainder of summer and into the fall, you’ve still got time to eat at Artscape, the International Festival, the Nigerian Festival, the Powwow Native American Festival, the Ukranian, Irish, and Korean American festivals. Get moving—you’ve got a lot of outdoor eating ahead of you.

E-mail Erin Sullivan