| Lovers of fine food know that there is a world tour that is obligatory for such aficionados. This is a journey that takes 12 months to complete and takes in the top gastronomic festivals on the planet.
This culinary world tour begins in January with the Niagara Ice-wine Festival, an event that pays tribute to the wine making tradition in this part of Canada where they make a sweet, bubbly wine out of frozen grapes. The drink is served at a temperature of -8°C and accompanies dishes served at gala dinners throughout the week of the festival. Other activities include parties in ice bars and tours of the area’s vineyards.
The month of February takes us to South Africa and the Port Elizabeth Prickly Pear Festival. The exotic product, which ever since 1986 has been considered more as a wild herb than a fruit, is the featured ingredient in the festival and is used in the preparation of a wide variety of foods such as pickles, breads, deserts, jams, preserves and pies. Each time the festival is held, 16 tons of pears are processed in order to delight the palates of the visitors with their unusual flavor.
Having left South Africa, the real gourmets then head for the Island of Anguilla in March to take part in the Festival of the Sea, where international chefs get together with local fishermen for the sole objective of preparing the most exquisite dishes from the marine products that abound in the seas around this island. The richly decorated dishes are then served at the many local food stalls around the island as well as in its better known restaurants.
Close by, another Caribbean paradise called Jamaica plays host to the Trelawny Yam Festival. This is held in April each year and pays homage to the yam, a root that is very similar to the potato and is very common in this part of the world. Each year around 10,000 people gather not just to enjoy the flavor of the vegetable but also take part in the other activities that the festival has to offer such as choosing the Festival Queen, the Yam Growing Contest and the Best Dressed Goat and Donkey Competition. This surely is a very original tradition!.
From mid April through to the month of May, our gastronomic tourists head for Spain, and more specifically to the town of Tudela, where an event called the Vegetable Celebration is held. It is no accident that the festival is held here as this tiny city is known for producing more vegetables than any other area in Europe, and the celebration involves gastronomic tours, special menus including exquisite vegetable skewers, cooking classes and tastings.
In June we turn from vegetables back to sea food, but this time against the backdrop of the Belize Lobster Festival, with its many dishes prepared from the soft and usually expensive meat of this crustacean, while July continues the theme with Alaska’s Copper River Wild Salmon Festival. The latter event offers what is believed to be the best salmon in the world, prepared in a wide variety of styles.
July is also the month for the obligatory visit to the Annual Festival of the American Cheese Society, where the best cheeses in the United States are judged in the City of Chicago, based on both technical and aesthetic criteria. Not far away, the town of Gilroy in California plays host to the Garlic Festival, where you can enjoy the widest possible variety of recipes prepared using this signature ingredient that is not always well appreciated. These include everything from sandwiches to ice-cream!.
After this close encounter with the strong flavors of garlic the palate deserves a rest, and the month of August provides this opportunity. However in September, it is time to pack once again for the return trip to California for the Sonoma Wine Festival, in the region that has become a worthy rival to Napa thanks to the quality of its vines.
Pleasure seekers turn their attention to Italy in the month of October, and specifically to Turin, for the Salone del Gusto, which celebrates flavors and fine recipes, with a special focus on ingredients produced using environmentally sustainable techniques. Producers who follow these principles offer displays of gourmet dishes, cocktail mixing demonstrations and even wine and beer tastings.
The festival calendar also ends here in Italy, but in the city of Alba. Here, from September to December, is white truffle season, the only time of the year when these are harvested, in one of the few places on the world where they are to be found. During this season of the year Alba’s markets offer quantities of this ingredient to the restaurants that prepare special menus highlighting its flavor. Thus the festival celebrates the essence of the earth and Italy’s continuing connection with its roots. This really authentic event marks the end of our gastronomic world tour, in a country which is known throughout the world for its flavors and dishes. |
