Eight Food Festivals Worth Travelling For
Take a coffee break adventure.
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Everybody loves food. The glorious stuff keeps us alive, after all. But our relationship with it is so much more than just one of sustenance. It's a deep love based on bold flavours and gastro-satisfaction — and it's a love so strong that we're willing to cross seas, hop on rickety buses and pay big money to travel far-flung countries just to get our hands on what could be the world's best sandwich, or the perfect cup of coffee. Culinary tourism is one of the top reasons people travel, and travelling for a food festival is one of the most hectic, informative and fun ways to immerse yourself in the city's food culture.
So take a coffee break and scroll through some of the world's most delicious food festivals. They're events we reckon are worth dusting off the passport and busting out your custom chilli spoon for. And even if you can't make it to the actual event, it might at least give you an inspired idea of what to eat for dinner tonight.
AUSTIN FOOD + WINE FESTIVAL, TEXAS, USA
Austin has long been the culinary darling of the United States, and the glorious April feast that is the Austin Food + Wine Festival is the best way to find out why. As well as artisanal food and booze from a slew of local vendors, there's usually a fire pit, a taco showdown, interactive demonstrations, live music and meet and greets with America's top chefs. There's so much on you won't even be thinking about the exchange rate — just about how much you can fit in your tummy.
When? Late April.
COPENHAGEN COOKING, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
So we all know about Noma (especially after Rene Redzepi brought the restaurant to Sydney earlier this year), but do you know anything else about Danish cuisine? Probably not. But your one-way ticket to finding out is attending the Copenhagen Cooking food festival. This lovely little festival (which was in fact modelled in part on Melbourne Food and Wine Festival) will have you biking all over the small city to eat all the smørrebrød and skagen you possibly can. They also have a heap of good coffee and natural wine to try. The festival itself includes a wide range of events, from slow food dinners held in barns on the outskirts of town to cupping sessions and a long table outdoor feast that takes over a street in the city's Frederiksberg area.
When? Late August.
Seth Lui via Singapore Food Festival
SINGAPORE FOOD FESTIVAL, SINGAPORE
The entirely unique blend of cultural flavours (and price points) that is Singapore's cuisine jumps out at you like nobody's business at this annual celebration of eating as much as you deem safe. At the Singapore Food Fest, top chefs (many Michelin-starred) re-imagine classics in market stalls, and street vendors around town dish out every delicious colour of the foodie rainbow. This year they were even serving up something called laksagne — that's laksa-flavoured lasagne. Yep.
When? Mid July.
FOOD AND FUN FESTIVAL, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
With Iceland's relative proximity to the well-known food scene of Copenhagen (thanks to Noma) and the fact that it's on just about every traveller's bucket list, it's no surprise to see the culinary delights of Reykjavik becoming more and more popular. The most popular food event in the nation's capital, the Food and Fun Festival, sees restaurants across the city gather together to showcase Iceland's best home-grown produce over a few days in March.
When? Early March.
Binder.donedat via Flickr.
PHUKET VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL, PHUKET, THAILAND
Although it's already passed us by this year, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is definitely worth marking down on your travel calendar. The festival is actually a religious one, and celebrates the Chinese community's belief that abstaining from meat and other stimulants during the ninth lunar month and praying to the Nine Emperor Gods for good health and peace of mind. It packs in ten days of intricate ceremonies — from fire walking to others too gruesome to mention — all while following a strict vego diet. Their mock meat game is strong and the food is stellar, with nature's produce being cooked with such skill that it'll probably never taste better. Remember this is a religious festival though, and if you attend you'll have to follow the festival's ten rules (no alcohol is one of them).
When? Early October (but changes with the lunar calendar).
L'APLEC DEL CARAGOL, LLEIDA, SPAIN
Deep in the heart of Catalonia lies the city of Lleida — and every year in May, it plays host to up to 200,000 visitors for the annual gathering of snails. Essentially, it's a huge snail feast. The festival, named l'Aplec del Caragol, lays it on with parades, bands and whole mess of snails to consume. Last year, twelve tonnes were demolished across the weekend.
When? Late May.
WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL, CANCUN, MEXICO
Legging it to a destination for food doesn't necessarily mean sticking with the local offerings, so why not treat yourself to a festival of pure world class gastronomy? Cancun's Wine & Food Festival is regularly hosted by some of the best chefs in the world, and it comes with the jaw dropping scenery of Caribbean in the background. Plus, you can snack on street tacos in-between events if you're still hungry.
When? Early October.
LE SALON DU CHOCOLAT, PARIS, FRANCE
This one's pretty straight up and simple: a four-day chocolate festival in Paris. Le Salon du Chocolat sees hundreds of pastry chefs, chocolatiers and confectioners from all around the world descend on Paris for a whole long weekend's worth of take my money now. That's a bender to really get behind.
When? Late October.
Top image: Copenhagen Cooking.
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