Tasty trips away The combination of gastronomy and travel make for a pretty delicious adventure. Food festivals around the world make culinary travel an appealing option, writes
La Fete du Citron Menton, France
In Menton, the jewel of the Cote D’Azure, lemons are more than just a citrus fruit. They are prized by chefs for their rich essential oil, and celebrated by locals with their own festival.
This celebration is no botanical show. It’s a veritable fruity jamboree with lemon-themed parades, day and night – think stilt-walkers, fire-eaters, musicians, and acrobats (the French do love a circus). Each festival is themed. Next year’s event, from February 11 to March 1, is ‘‘20,000 Leagues under the Sea’’ so expect some sort of fruity submarine world, guided by the event mascot, the quirkily named John Lemon. Floats of giant creatures of the deep will all be created from more than 140 tonnes of carefully-placed oranges, lemons.
For three weeks, the Jardins Bioves and the streets of this normally sleepy town are given over to these citrus giants. It is the second most important event on the Riviera after Nice Carnival, just ahead of the Monaco Formula 1.
Starting in 1933 as a fruit show, the Lemon Festival attracts around 160,000 visitors every year. Legend says the lemon tree first took root in Menton. The story goes that Menton grew from a pip, to become the prime lemongrowing region in Europe.
The Roadkill Grill
In fact, the town celebrates it with its annual Roadkill Cooking Festival. Usually on the last Saturday of September, the event brings in 15,000 people keen to taste something different – black bear, elk, a reptile or two.
It’s a much anticipated event for the town and locals of all ages enter the competition for the best roadkill dish.
It’s a competition between amateur chefs, and judges deduct points for gravel or asphalt found in food. Makes you want to reach for a toothpick.
Isle of Wight Garlic Festival England
Breath be damned, garlic rules in this festival. Each August in the northern summer, that great bulb gets its closeup at the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival.
Held in the bucolic village of Newchurch, the festival celebrates garlic in every way. You’ll find it in everything from fudge, ice cream, and popcorn to bickies, scones, and cake.
The delicious and distant relative of the onion is grown here at a local garlic farm, and is reputed to be Britain’s best and most pungent garlic. The festival, which began in 1983 as a lowkey fundraising event, is now a weeklong party, which attracts upwards of 25,000 people. There are cooking demos, competitions, and the star of the show on sale in every form. The good times roll with local bands, market stalls, and kids’ entertainment.
Salon du Chocolat