From fried green tomatoes and meats grilled on a buckboard to stuffed churros and artichokes cooked all different ways, this week’s San Diego LGBT Pride festival will engage visitors in a food and drink bonanza presented by nearly 45 different caterers, restaurants and beverage companies.

The festival will feature two food courts on its “upper level,” which will include additional seating for enjoying a wide range of sustenance such as Hawaiian plate lunches from L&L and Brody’s Hawaiian Barbecue, banana donuts and banana lumpia from EB Sweetstacks, classic hamburgers from Big Dick’s Burgers and creamy, homemade you know what from Mariposa Ice Cream in Normal Heights.

Among the newest food vendors is Green Tomato Restaurant from Kensington, which will offer up their namesake specialty along with chicken fingers, fried shrimp and jalapeno poppers. For those hankering for a sprightly bowl of greenery, Mary Jo Testa of Salad Style in the East Village will sell Chicken Caesars, Moroccan Cous Cous Salad and Pepper Skirt Steak Salad, as well as cool gazpacho soup.

If you haven’t gotten around yet to a summer barbecue, Buckboard Catering will occupy 30 feet of festival space to give you the real deal with an old-fashioned redwood buckboard grill charring up tri-tip, ribs and burgers. The company slathers its meats with the award-winning Randy Jones Barbecue Sauce, which has netted top honors at rib competitions at the Barona RibFest and other foodie contests throughout Southern California.

“We’ll be brining a couple thousand pounds of meat for the weekend,” says Deborah Chandler, marketing consultant for Buckboard. “We’re very excited to be a new participant at the Pride festival and we’re looking forward to contributing to another successful event.”

Visitors will also find Greek specialties with a twist from International Foods, which offers Chicken Divan (charred chicken made with white wine and served with dill sauce), chicken gyros adorned with pine nuts, and quesadillas that pile chicken breast, sautéed veggies and mozzarella cheese onto pita bread. And the folks from Red Stone will offer “broasted” red potatoes, Buffalo wings and roasted beef ribs served with three different sauces.

Artichoke fans need head over to the Just Chokes booth, where the caterer will be steaming, fire-roasting and french-frying the meaty thistles in a variety of unique preparations that include artichokes stuffed with shrimp Louie.

In the drink department, Texas Twister from Alpine brings to the festival its fruity namesake drink made of oranges, limes, lemons and cherries for a sprightly concoction that’s considered “not as thick as a smoothie.” Visitors will also find “naked” fruit juices and flavored cold teas by Sunset Italian Ice as well as fresh lemonade by When Life Gives You Lemons.

At the Latin entertainment and dance area, the vendor A Pa! Churros! will sell non-alcoholic Clamato drinks, tortilla chips and salsa, and churros stuffed with “surprise centers.”

Plenty of libations will be available in three separate beer gardens (one of them with a performance stage) to those 21 years and older. On Saturday afternoon in the main beer garden, the Jägerettes and JägerDudes will be handing out free T-shirts while the popular German liqueur Jägermeister goes on sale. And throughout the weekend, all of the beer gardens will serve Budweiser products and a variety of mixed drinks made with Smirnoff vodka, including Cape Cods, Twisted Lime Lemonade and Watermelon martinis. In addition, Tequila Corazón will be used for spiking margaritas, punch and cosmopolitans.

“Every food space sold out earlier this year,” says Festival Coordinator Terry Bishop. “It’s a tasty lineup of food vendors we have in place, and over half of them will be providing free lunches for our volunteers who work at least one five-hour shift.”

The San Diego LGBT Pride festival takes place from 12:00 noon to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, and from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 30. The regular admission price is $12 per day or $20 for a two-day pass. For seniors (60 years and older) and students 16 to 24 years of age with current student ID, the cost is $8 in advance and $10 at the gate. Senior and student ticket outlets are listed on the Pride Web site, www.sdpride.org. Regular advance tickets can be purchased at Babette Schwartz, Obelisk Bookstore and The Crypt.

For more information, call the Pride office at (619) 297-7683 or visit www.sdpride.org.