If there is one thing I learned from the free food-a-thon today, it’s that no matter how organized you are and how many plans and back-up plans you have, the fate of free food has a mind of its own.

After a successful gourmet breakfast at a book launch in D.C., I felt pretty confident that my chances of winning this competition were favorable and I would have no problem eating to my heart’s content for lunchtime. I set off to the 2008 FTC Eco in the Market Workshop: Green Building & Textiles, certain that a conference from 9-5 would break for delicious vegetarian and/or vegan cuisine. After foolishly walking to the Union Station area from NW D.C. (a 40 minute walk) I arrived just in time for lunch! “So where’s the food?” I asked a woman with a name tag. She looked puzzled and explained that this was a lunch break, in which participants and speakers were free to grab something from a nearby café. WTF?! What kind of conference doesn’t have food? Maybe I’m just a spoiled Campus Progress intern who is so accustomed to all of the free food that filters in and out of the office and CP events, but come on. Brushing that setback off, I set off to my back up plan: Heritage. There was some event about Ireland stopping the Lisbon Treaty or something or the other, but all I cared about was the “light lunch” to be served! I had even signed in as “Santo Gold” under the RSVP. To my further dismay, the presentation was over and all the food had been cleared (I asked the security guard).

Discouraged and out of ideas, I rode the metro back to Metro Center with my fellow intern, Ashley. Suddenly, it hit me: what if I sang at a restaurant and got free food? Wait a minute, that just might work! So long story short, I went in to Potbelly’s Sandwich Works and told the manager I had a “bet” with my boss and could I sing a song for some free food? The manager, Erica, and awesome employee Matt enthusiastically obliged and hooked me up to the microphone. I sang "At Last" by Etta James and "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles and was rewarded with a warm, gooey, cheesy veggie-on-wheat, light mayo, no mushrooms. Free water too! On top of that, they offered me a job to sing there every Friday! See "At Last" for yourself: