It’s just great when an idea becomes a reality. And that’s exactly what’s happened with StrEAT.

StrEAT is Bristol's global street food collective serving up authentic food from all over the world.

It doesn’t happen often does it? I remember when I was sitting in a pub called the Funky Monkey with some friends, way back in 1999 – I was 23 and dying to go travelling, all around the world.

It was dark and dreary outside on that Sunday afternoon, but drinks were flowing fast and conversation turned to how it would be brilliant if the four of us could all go to India, then onto Thailand with nothing but a backpack with some essentials.

We hatched the plan and several months later, we were all sitting at the back of a plane heading out to India (aka street food heaven), onwards to Goa, to start our adventure with some serious partying to celebrate the start of the new millennium.

That was the last time that an idea turned into reality for me. StrEAT is even more exciting.

Would you like to know how the idea came about? We’ll it was off the back of a passionate conversation with Fiona Beckett, acclaimed cookery writer and wine expert at The Guardian, who had just returned from Portland, Oregon in the US of A. She was blown away by the mobile food cart scene out there – vendors who had set up small businesses selling really tasty street food like the Fried Green BLT – thick slabbed bacon, leaf lettuce and fried green tomatoes, all around the city. Fiona was enthused about the buzz and thought that the movement would work in a city like Bristol too. After all, Bristol is famed for its entrepreneurial spirit and creative juices.

So with that thought in mind, we set about finding local people who were keen to set up food businesses, then decided on a fun name and set about building a brand – with only a few hundred pounds to get it off the ground.

But we’ve done it – just a few months later, we’ve got a few regular vendors and have produced three really ace events. And the feedback has been overwhelming positive.

We’ll be popping up in different locations, so make sure you sign up to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter so we can tell you exactly where we’ll be and who’ll be selling what.