World’s best food festivals: 14 places for the true foodie to go eat
Salon de Chocolate (Quito, Ecuador) —
Hardcore food fans deserve hardcore food festivals. Quito's Salon de Chocolate isn't the world's only festival devoted to cocoa bean creations, but as the leading producer of high-quality chocolate, it's probably the best.
Eduardo Flores/Agencia Andes
Annual Golden Spurtle (Cairngorms, Scotland) —
Porridge -- and skirts for men, obviously -- is what made Scotland great. Not to be enjoyed while sitting down, if it's to be enjoyed at all.
Fergus Thom/Golden Spurtle
Wildfoods Festival (Hokitika, New Zealand) —
It takes cojones to try some of the dishes on offer at this celebration of the planet's more unusual foodstuffs.
Courtesy Eli Duke/Flickr
The Onion Market (Bern, Switzerland) —
Probably not the ideal choice for a first date. Unless Bern announces an annual mouthwash festival to run alongside.
Courtesy Switzerland Tourism
Watercress Festival (Hampshire, England) —
The only place in England where this kind of thing is considered good manners.
Courtesy Watercress Festival
Bacon Festival (Sacramento, California) —
The Boss Hog of pork-related revels, this January event explores everything culinarily conceivable with pigs.
Courtesy Sacremento Bacon Festival
Blue Food Festival (Bloody Bay, Tobago) —
Why so blue? Because it contains dasheen, a variety of taro that turns that color when cooked.
Courtesy Visit Tobago
PoutineFest (Ottawa, Canada) —
Fries, gravy and cheese curds. Doesn't look great, but 35 million Canadians can't be wrong.
Courtesy PoutineFest
Castagnades chestnut festival (Ardeche, France) —
Ardeche is France's biggest producer of chestnuts, a status it celebrates with this annual festival.
Courtesy Castagnades
Dumpling Festival (Hong Kong) —
Zongzi dumplings consumed on this day in June consist of glutinous rice with varied fillings.
Derrick Chang/CNN
National Cherry Festival (Traverse City, Michigan) —
This week-long cherry celebration in July offers pit-spitting competitions, pie-baking contests, a Grand Cherry Parade and the crowning of a Cherry Queen.
Courtesy National Cherry Festival/Flickr
Pizzafest (Naples, Italy) —
At least 50 different types of pizza are available. Possibly even with anchovies.
Courtesy Pizza Village
Vegetarian Festival (Phuket, Thailand) —
The only meat being skewered here is human, thanks to graphic displays of piercing and other unusual displays of devotion at this festival with animal-friendly catering.
NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images
World's best food festivals for serious food fanatics
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in May 2016.