Food Festivals Photo Gallery -- National Geographic Traveler

Northern Bites
Photograph by Bragi Thor Josefsson
Reykjavík, Iceland—The Food and Fun Festival features an international chef’s competition and local guest-chef collaborations at Reykjavík’s best restaurants. It’s a chance to see how this small island nation has made the most of its luscious lamb, fisheries, and burgeoning dairy farms. Between meals, make sure to nab a pylsur—Iceland’s famously succulent hot dogs. (March)
Oyster Love
Photograph by AA World Travel Library, Alamy
Galway, Ireland—Champion shuckers from around the world pack their oyster knives for Ireland to compete at the World Oyster Opening Championship, the centerpiece of the three-day-long Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival. Get ready to shell out for the buttery bivalve in its many incarnations—raw, chowder, fried—and prepare to swoon for this ultimate aphrodisiac as bands jam in dozens of bars, Irish ales flow, and a lucky girl named the Oyster Pearl takes home her crown. (September)
Really Bizarre Foods
Photograph by LOOK Die Bildagentur der Fotografen GmbH, Alamy
Hokitika, New Zealand—Not even Gollum would dream of devouring wasp larvae ice cream. But you—along with 12,000 other scorpion-sampling culinary daredevils—can. Every year, the globe’s gutsiest diners alight on the South Island at Hokitika’s Wildfoods Festival to feast on the world’s most extreme cuisine, from crocodile to kangaroo to worm sushi. Wandering musicians and mimes bring a carnival spirit. Anyone for the last chocolate-covered huhu grub? (It’s a long-horned beetle, but it reportedly tastes like peanut butter.) (March)
Gaga for Garlic
Photograph by Louie Psihoyos, Getty Images
Gilroy, California—“There’s no such thing as a little garlic,” quipped humorist Arthur Baer. This is especially true at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, an aromatic annual homage to the humble bulb. Some two tons of garlic fuel the festival, which features a recipe contest/cook-off, boundless servings of garlic ice cream and zesty garlic-topped dishes like scampi and stuffed mushrooms, and appearances by the current Garlic Queen. Our hint: Bring mints. (July)
Mango Mania
Photograph by Deshakalyan Chowdhury, AFP/Getty Images
Delhi, India—Some 500 varieties of India’s national fruit—revered in Hindu mythology as a symbol of joy and spiritual attainment—take center stage at the two-day International Mango Festival. The many-colored king of fruits is a major export of India, but flavorful fun is the theme here—take in the mango-eating competition, mango-carving demonstration, mango savoring stalls (jams, juice, pickles), and some decidedly haute-cuisine preparations of mango that bring this ancient fruit to the forefront of modern gastronomy. (July)
Flask Masters
Photograph by Catherine Karnow
Speyside, Scotland—Scotland’s national drink brings a spark to five days of frivolity during the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival. You may know the storied names—Cardhu, Glenfiddich, Strathisla—but to savor these sips in their natural habitat is a thrill. Events also include distillery tours, tastings of new releases that will never be exported, whisky feasts, and wildlife walks (bring your own flask). (May)
Long Live the Vegetable
Photograph by Martin Kirchner, laif/Redux
Schwetzingen, Germany—Asparagus roots run deep in Baden-Württemberg, but it’s the asparagus shoots that locals celebrate. Springtime in southern Germany brings spargelzeit—a season to devour these white stalks in all their permutations. With its sandy soil, Schwetzingen prides itself on being the asparagus capital of the world (it’s in the heart of the “Asparagus Triangle”). Its Spargelfest honors the königliches gemüse (royal vegetable) with song and dance. Food stalls serve the tender, savory sprout with smoked ham, beneath waves of hollandaise, and in soups and salads. (May)
Cold Harvest
Photograph by J.P. Moczulski, Corbis
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario—What goes well with chestnuts roasted on an open fire—in the midst of a mid-January freeze? Ice wine—the sweet nectar produced from grapes frozen while still on the vine—is the perfect pairing to fight back frostbite. Ontario is the primary producer of this celebrated dessert wine, which can be a pricey passion because of its labor-intensive production and low yield. For nearly three weeks, the Niagara Icewine Festival pours the fruity elixir at ornate ice bars, winery tours, gourmet galas, and food stalls. (January)
Sugar, Spice, Everything Rice
Photograph by Robyn Lee
Seoul, South Korea—Korean tteok (rice cakes) are soft, colorful, whimsically shaped glutinous rice treasures. The Institute of Traditional Korean Food, which organizes the International Tteok Fair in the country’s capital, has even dedicated a museum to these sticky rice staples, which easily absorb a range of flavors, from spicy kimchi to fermented bean paste to honey and peanut. At the fair, sign up for rice-cake–making classes or wander around sipping rice wine and gobbling up these confections. (May)
Andean Appetites
Photograph by Nicholas Gill, Alamy
Lima, Peru—At the Mistura Festival, cuy (roasted guinea pig, an Andean specialty) makes an appearance, but the picarones (fried sweet-potato-and-squash dough rings), Afro-Peruvian stews, Peruvian-Chinese chifa cuisine, zesty fresh seviches, and frothy pisco sour cocktails are the standouts. Even the starches get star treatment: A thousand varieties of potato, large-kernel corn, and protein-packed quinoa are whipped into dishes that run the gamut from street food to haute sensations. (September)