10 Weird Food Festivals

1. Ivrea Orange Festival• This 3 day long festival occurs in the Piedmont district of Turin, in

north-west Italy

• It takes place every year on the 3rd week of February attracting

thousands of people• It is free for anyone to participate in the Battle of Oranges by

joining one of the teams on foot or becoming a member of the carriage crew

• Participants are divided into 9 teams & fight in a real battle, pelting oranges at each other

• According to legend, this tradition represents the uprising against a cruel tyrant, Ranieri di Biandrate, who claimed the right to sleep with any bride on her wedding night. Unfortunately for him, a girl named Violetta refused to sleep with the tyrant & cut his head off with a dagger

• Every year, during the Battle a girl is chosen to play the role of Violetta, while the destruction of tyrant’s castle is symbolically represented by throwing of oranges (which represent Ranieri’s head)

2. Candy Throwing Festival• Celebrated in the city of Vilanova i La Geltrú in Spain

• Takes place annually on Fat Tuesday

• Originally a protest of the Franco regime’s ‘Carnival

prohibition’

• Celebrations begin with meringue wars, where bakeries open their stores & pass out free pie ammunition to children

• Adults dress in the colors of their respective Carnival Society & attend parties & masquerades before joining children in the streets for the candy fight

• Over 200,000 lbs of food ranging from pies to candy to cereal is donated to the food fight

• The festival officially ends with the ceremonial burial of a sardine to mark the beginning of Lent & fasting

3. Annual Yuma Lettuce Days

• Takes place at Yuma, Arizona, USA• The next Annual Yuma lettuce days will be celebrated on

the 27th & 28th of February 2016

• Yuma is known as ‘The Winter Lettuce Capital of the World’• Yuma produces $1.5 billion of Arizona’s agriculture revenue

& provides 90% of North America’s winter vegetables• Among the highlights of this Veggie Fair are the Lettuce

sculptures, Cabbage Bowling, Homegrown Cooking Contest & the ‘World’s Largest Salad’

4. Gilroy Garlic Festival• Takes place in Gilroy, California, USA

• 3 day long festival which takes place in the month of July attracting over 100,000 visitors annually

• 2 tons of garlic are consumed during this period• Official Gilroy Garlic Festival website claims to have used 72

tons of garlic in the 29 years this festival has existed• Cooking demonstrations, lectures, discussions about

traditional uses of garlic & its health benefits take place• A Great Garlic Cook-off takes place which has had entries like

garlic ice cream, garlic soft drinks, walnut-garlic tart with Garlic-Infused Cream & Chili Syrup, dishes like garlic lollipops & ice cream

5. World Pea shooting Championship

• Witcham, Cambridgeshire, UK holds the World Pea Shooting

Championship• Takes place in July • In 1971, local headmaster Mr. Tyson held the 1st pea shooting

competition as a way to fundraise for the upkeep of the village hall.

• Competitors take this extreme sport seriously & a hi-tech gear (like the laser-guided pea shooter) is needed to stand a chance on the field with seasoned pea shooting veterans

• The competition tends to be dominated by local entrants• Small number of competitors also travel from around the

world, notably the USA & American personnel from US airbases have also participated

6. Bug Fest • Festival is held in North Carolina• Each year over 35,000 visitors come to the BugFest • Over 100 exhibits of bugs, crafts, games &

activities. • Opportunity for you to interact with entomologists &

other scientists so you can continue learning about the fascinating world of bugs.

• There’s also a Café Insecta, where the brave can sample buggy dishes prepared by local chefs

• The best part is, it’s all free• This year's theme bug: cicadas! 

7. Potato days Festival

• Takes place in Barnesville, Minnesota, annually in August• Visitors to the festival should expect to experience 2 days

of wacky potato activities & delicious potato tasting• This 2 day long festival includes everything from car racing

& cook-offs to sculpting & potato sack races• Main event each year is Mashed Potato Wrestling, where

willing participants spar in a vat full of spuds• The famous Miss Tator Tot pageant is also a major attraction

during this festival

8. Giant Omelet Festival• Held at Abbeville, Louisiana LA in November• Origin of the Giant Omelet Festival dates back to days of

Napoleon, when the general ordered townspeople to gather every egg in the village & prepare a giant omelet for his army

• Chefs from across the globe maneuver around a massive skillet heated by a wood fire to create an omelet from more than 5,000 eggs + 1 for each year the festival exists

• Other activities include a colorful procession of chefs, Tabasco Girls Dance Team & plenty of French-Cajun music to keep the party kicking

• Ingredients include 5000 eggs, 50 lbs. onions, 75 bell peppers, 4 gallons of onion tops, 2 gallons parsley, 1 ½ gallons of cooking oil, 6 1/2gallons milk, 52 lbs. butter, 3 boxes salt, 2 boxes black pepper, 15 lbs of Louisiana Crawfish Tails & Tabasco pepper sauce

9. Monkey Buffet• The Monkey Buffet takes place annually in Lopburi province,

north of Bangkok, Thailand in November • A troop of around 2000 local monkeys receive an extensive

lunch buffet at the Pra Prang Sam Yot • 4000 kgs of fruits, vegetables, cakes & candies is set down in

front of temples on tables for the monkeys• The festival also host plenty of activities in relation with

monkeys like music & dances with young people in monkeys costumes, monkey masks etc.

• The Festival was invented in 1989 by a local business man in order to boost tourism in the Lopburi province

• Since then thousands of visitors come every year to see the numerous monkeys filling they stomachs.

10. La Tomatina• This festival is held in the Valencian town of Bunol on the last

Wednesday of August• Participants throw tomatoes & get involved in a tomato fight

purely for fun• At around 10 a.m., festivities begin with the 1st event of the

Tomatina• The goal is to climb a greased pole with pork on top. Once

someone is able to drop the pork off the pole, the start signal for the tomato fight is given by firing a water shot in the air

• Several trucks make their entry & throw tomatoes in abundance in the Plaza del Pueblo

• Tomatoes must be crushed before being thrown so as to reduce the risk of injury

• Estimated number of tomatoes  used is around 150,000 or over 40 metric tons

• After one hour the fight ends with the firing of the 2nd shot of water, announcing the end

Food is our common ground, a universal experience