Food Festivals
There are so many food festivals going on this year you could almost eat your way around the world. Here's a selection of some of the best — not to mention the most unusual — to get you drooling.
Skalldyrfestivalen (Shellfish Festival), Norway
August 4 — 10
Once you've got your tongue around the name of this festival in Mandal, Norway's southernmost town, you can get your lips around its succulent fresh seafood. Novelty activities to help fill the time between eating include prawn peeling competitions and there's dancing till late. If you love shellfish enough to get on a long-haul flight, go to Baltimore, USA for the annual Crab & Beer Festival. Entry costs $60 but you can eat and drink as much as you like. Weyhey!
For Skalldryfestivalen fly to Kristiansand, which is 35kms from Mandal, with Norwegian Air Shuttle. For flights to Baltimore try British Airways.
Pig Festival (La Pourcailhade)
Trie Sur Baise, France
August 10
Included mainly for its novelty factor, this festival celebrates all things pig-like. You can sample cold meats, enter a contest for the best piggy outfit (what do you mean you haven't got one?) or best sausage-eater, or place a bet on the piglet race. The highlight of the festival though is the “France Cri de Cochon” or pig imitation competition. Yes, that's right. The contestant who squeals most like a pig is the winner. Entry is free.
For more information, go to pourcailhade.com Fly to Pau with Ryanair.
Preuvenemint, Maastricht, Netherlands
August 28 — 31
If you ever needed an excuse to go to Maastricht, you've got one now. Join 200,000 other revellers for a gastronomic celebration of international cuisine, tasting the offerings from more than 40 restaurants in the city which set up stands in the main square. Not only Dutch but Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian food will be on the menu. There is no entrance fee and you can buy special Preuvenemint (preuv means taste, enemint event) bills to pay for what you eat at various places in the square. One preuvenelap costs €1.70.
You'll be entertained by live music on an open-air stage while you eat, drink and make merry. preuvenemint.nl has further information on the event in English. Ryanair and KLM fly to Maastricht.
Sueca Paella Festival, Sueca, Spain
September 1 — 14
Every year the Valencian town of Sueca hosts the Paella Festival. The region is famed for the dish and there's a contest on the final day to see who can cook up the best. Competition is hot and the event attracts people from all over Spain. There's lots of dancing and fireworks and a giant paella is cooked up and passed around. The event ends with a traditional bull fight. Entry is free.
Fly to Valencia with British Airways, easyJet, Iberia or Ryanair,
Alba Truffle Festival (Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d'Alba)
October 4 — November 9
Prized above almost every other ingredient in the world, white truffles only grow in a few places -- Alba being the epicenter -- and only from September to December. Hence this small Piedmontese town attracts some of the world's top chefs for the annual Truffle Auction, Festival and Market.
If you can't afford some of this white fungi with supposed aphrodisiac qualities (it sells at about £1,600 a kilo), don't worry - you can taste snails from nearby Cherasco and some of Piedmont's famed Barolo wine.
For further information, go to Fieradeltartufo.org
Fly to Turin, from where it's an hour's drive to Alba. For flights, try British Airways, easyjet and Ryanair.
Salone del Gusto, Turin, Italy
October 23 — 27
Meaning Salon of Taste, this celebration of ‘slow food ideology' takes place only every two years, but you're in luck because the next event will be held this October. Bearing the somewhat worthy slogan, ‘good, clean and fair, it's essentially an opportunity to try lots of different delicacies from all over the world. There will be cookery demonstrations, cocktail demonstrations, workshops and wine and beer tasting sessions.
Held in Turin's Lingotto Fiere exhibition centre and Oval arena, the event charges an entry fee of €20 for a one-day ticket; a five-day ticket costs €60. salonedelgusto.com has information in English.
Alitalia, British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have flights to Turin.
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