Q for BM staff: Cook w/ gas flame on Esplanade?

[Z-Monkey]

My camp is not a theme camp. We are just a small handful of friends. We are planning out our service and were thinking of cooking and handing out s'mores or quesadillas after midnight on Esplanade.

Do we need any kind of permit to have an open flame for the marshmellows? Would it be different if we weren't on Esplanade? -- e.g. somewhere out on the playa, some random intersection inside the city, or our own camp? Trying to figure out what we are/aren't allowed to do and how to make this fun, feasible, and awesome for everyone.

Rather than a camp fire, we were thinking of using a kitchen torch to toast the marshmellows


Or Sterno flames


Best,
Z-Monkey

[ygmir]

my understanding is if you are handing food out to the public, of any type, you need a health dept. permit.
you may want to check into that.

[Sham]

Here is the info on food that you will be giving away. http://blog.burningman.com/2014/07/news ... -for-2014/
I tend to give away prepackaged treats. It's a lot less paperwork.

[The Rod]

No, you won't need any permit for a kitchen torch to roast marshmallows. You will need permits for the food to be gifted from the health departments as others have pointed out.

[BoyScoutGirl]

Also, just so you know, eplaya is NOT the place to ask questions of the BM Org staff. We're just random internet fuckos here, even if some of us have lots of on-playa experience and/or volunteer in more-or-less official capacities and/or are pedants who've read every scrap of official info that was ever released.

If you want a question answered in an official capacity (and can't find the answer on the rather extensive BM website or the blog), email the correct department directly. If you can't figure out the correct department, email questions(at)burningman(dot)com.

[Eric]

We are planning out our service and were thinking of cooking and handing out s'mores or quesadillas after midnight on Esplanade.

You absolutely, unquestionably need a Health Dept Permit to serve food to the general public:

Health Permits Are Required
If you are planning to make and give away food or drinks to the public on the playa including fresh squeezed juice, coffee with dairy, or even snow cones, you need a permit. You must apply for and be permitted as a Temporary Food Establishment by the Nevada State Division of Health if:
[snip]
You wish to share, cook or serve food or non-alcoholic beverages to the general Burning Man population (gifting food).

Read the Burning Blog on Health Department Permits here.

And, as BoyScoutGirl said, not even the Mods are BMorg staff. Lots of us fuckos here are more than happy to help point you in the right direction though.

[trilobyte]

I'm moving this thread over to Food & Drink, because that's a better fit for questions about food & drink.

YES - you would absolutely, positively need a Nevada food permit in order to make s'mores or quesadillas for the public. See this post for more info on that, as well as links on where to go to apply. Even if it's just a single bag of marshmallows' worth. While there are some mobile food service operations on the playa, they go through extra effort and jump through extra hoops in order to make sure that their cart or vehicle is able to satisfy all of the state's requirements for safe food handling.

Unless you're willing to take that on, you're almost certainly going to need to have your kitchen be at your camp (wherever that may be). You do not need to be a placed theme camp in order to register for a food permit, and you do not need to be on Esplanade in order for s'mores or quesadillas to be fun. All the neighborhoods are pretty awesome, and wherever you end up camping you're sure to quickly find people to take you guys up on your offer.

When you fill out your application you put your location information, but that can be approximate (even placed camps don't know the exact spot they'll be in until they get there). Then, when you pick up the actual permit over by playa info at the event, you give them your exact location. They'll update their info, and then come visit you for an inspection at some point through the week.