Jet's Places

THE STRANGEST FOOD FESTIVALS

For the adventurer

When I think of a food festival, I imagine a lot of different stalls, food trucks, plenty of bars with wine and beer, smoky barbecues, whirring blenders, and crackling fryers with fresh fries inside. That's what an average food festival looks like if you ask me. But you could also buy a ticket for something a bit more adventurous. A food festival where garlic takes center stage, for example. There are a lot of crazy food festivals around the world. I'll give you the strangest. Let's see if you dare.

Chinchilla Melon Festival, Australia

Everything related to melon can be found here. During the festival, you can participate in various melon-related activities such as melon tossing, eating melon, and spitting melon seeds. The most fun activity is watermelon skiing. How does it work? Simple: put your feet in two watermelons, put on a watermelon helmet, and let yourself be pulled by two men. Well, have fun!

Waikiki SPAM JAM, Waikiki, Hawaii

No, this is not a festival where things happen with your email inbox or whatever. SPAM is canned cooked pork (you have to like it) and comes from the United States. During this festival, local chefs prepare the most creative dishes with canned meat. How about SPAM tacos, pizza, or ramen? But also desserts like SPAM flan and SPAM crème brûlée. Ouch ouch ouch.

Gilroy Garlic Festival, Gilroy, USA

This is what I wrote about earlier. I think I would pass on this, but if you are a really, really, really huge garlic fan, then this might be for you. I mention: garlic ice cream, garlic popcorn, and even pineapple-garlic pancakes. Whether you should bring your loved one is another question. Only if you both “go for it”.

La Tomatina, Buñol, Spain

Ha! In this little village, it's all about throwing tomatoes at each other as hard as possible. As soon as trucks full of tomatoes drive into the village, it's every man for himself. The result? Streets flooded with tomato soup and people completely covered in tomato mush.

Battaglia delle Arance, Ivrea, Italy

We're still on the fighting theme, but this time it's with oranges. Seems a bit more heroic to me. In other words: painful! The ‘battle of the oranges’ takes place in the northern Italian city of Ivrea and is the oldest food fight festival in the country. In three days, more than 270,000 kilos of oranges are used. Participants in the festival are divided into teams to throw oranges at each other. I believe I can't handle this. I'd rather have tomatoes.