"I'd walk a mile for..."

[fresco]

The Washington Post has rounded up some of the world's most exotic food festivals, including Iceland's Thorrablot Festival, where diners are served ram's testicles, rotted shark meat and other delicacies, washed down with a vile sounding alcoholic concoction called "Black Death." Bonus: it's in February.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/trav...foodfest14.html

[Suzanne F]

Hey, from what I remember from geography class, Iceland isn't so bad -- thermal springs and volcanoes and all that. Oh wait, you mean where Bjork is from . . . you might be right.

Even though I thought the Vermont Chili Festival was kind of strange, I actually enjoyed it. Especially the stand decorated with a miniature, um, loo: the entrant called his "Next Day Chili." (The winner goes on to represent the state at a national championship.)

[Mabelline]

Montana has got a testicle festival. You give a bunch of cowboys some time and the'll think up something to promote the state's image

[Andrew Fenton]

Oct. 14-22, Phuket, Thailand: Phuket Vegetarian Festival. During a 10-day period of a vegetarian diet only, men pierce their tongues with metal rods, sprint across red-hot charcoals and climb ladders with rungs of blades, all to purify themselves and ask for mercy from the gods.

Proof that not eating meat will drive you crazy.

[fresco]

Montana has got a testicle festival. You give a bunch of cowboys some time and the'll think up something to promote the state's image

Have you attended? Sure sounds like an event that people would find fascinating to read about.

[Mabelline]

No, not up to now. But I've been considering going. We have another get together in the end of the year like Pamplona, but we use sheep. And some of them are wearing bandanas. Like I said, give them boys some time. Did I also mention we have a lot of small breweries, too?

[fresco]

Do the sheep wind up as food in Montana's "Pamplona"?

[Mabelline]

Nah, it's just a big ole reason to party-duh- I guess that's what most modern ones are, aren't they? I want to go to the tomato fight!

[fresco]

If you go to the testicle festival, be sure to post about it.

[Mabelline]

You bet. Pictures and all.

[Alex]

Great thread.

And I thought the Baby Food Festival in nearby Fremont, MI (home of Gerber), was odd.

[Mudpuppie]

If you go to the testicle festival, be sure to post about it.

Isn't that a Tony Bennet song??

[fresco]

If it isn't, it will be.

[Andrew Fenton]

Evidently there are many testicle festivals around the US. Here is a list, from a website called (ahem) chicktrip.com ("travel for women and their friends.")

This, my friends, is what made America great

[Mayhaw Man]

While we here in Louisiana have a festival for damn near everything but snowmobiles, our neighbors to the North have outdone us with this odd and entertaining combination.. I have not attended (although I really am gonna if I can ever remember, but I did order a fabulously sylish t-shirt from last years event.

As far as the variety of Louisiana Festivals go this site is free and this one, belonging to my friend Hulie, is not. But I reccomend ordering the calender as a great piece of wall art as well as an informational guide to the wonders of the Sportsman's Paradise. Julie Posner also co-wrote the irreplacable "Cajun Country Guide" along with Macon Frye.

[Rich Pawlak]

Evidently there are many testicle festivals around the US.  Here is a list, from a website called (ahem) chicktrip.com ("travel for women and their friends.")

This, my friends, is what made America great

Oh, it just hurts to read them.

I will never be that hungry. Ever.

[robyn]

How about the swamp cabbage festival in LaBelle Florida? Now how many of you know what swamp cabbage is without looking it up? Robyn

[Mabelline]

Okayyy then- I knew about Cinton and Fromberg, but did not realize Montana is literally awash in testical festivals! Kinda creeps ya out. Ooh, I know about saw palmettos, and like them very much.

[robyn]

Okayyy then- I knew about Cinton and Fromberg, but did not realize Montana is literally awash in testical festivals! Kinda creeps ya out. Ooh, I know about saw palmettos, and like them very much.

Saw palmetto isn't the same as swamp cabbage. Robyn

[Mabelline]

Wow I stand corrected. I wuz lied to, and I lapped it up like a dawg! What should I really look for?

[Andrew Fenton]

Evidently there are many testicle festivals around the US.  Here is a list, from a website called (ahem) chicktrip.com ("travel for women and their friends.")

This, my friends, is what made America great

Oh, it just hurts to read them.

I will never be get that hungry. Ever.

Scratch one idea for the July DDC...

[Pan]

I noticed that the article linked in the original post gave Singapore as the location of the Moon Festival, but that really is a pan-Chinese festival, as many of you know.

[robyn]

Wow I stand corrected. I wuz lied to, and I lapped it up like a dawg! What should I really look for?

Swamp cabbage is hearts of palm (actually comes from a palm tree - the sabal palm - which is the state tree of Florida). Robyn

[Pan]

In my experience, hearts of palm are from the center of the trunks of coconut palms, and you have to kill the palm tree to get at those hearts. I've never before heard of any other palm tree being used, but the canned hearts of palm I've eaten taste exactly like hearts of coconut palm I've eaten fresh in Malaysia when palm trees had to be chopped down or had snapped in a rainstorm. Do the sabal trees produce any edible fruit or nut and do they grow quickly enough for it to be cost-effective to kill lots of them yearly in palm-heart production?

[Mudpuppie]

In my experience, hearts of palm are from the center of the trunks of coconut palms, and you have to kill the palm tree to get at those hearts. I've never before heard of any other palm tree being used, but the canned hearts of palm I've eaten taste exactly like hearts of coconut palm I've eaten fresh in Malaysia when palm trees had to be chopped down or had snapped in a rainstorm. Do the sabal trees produce any edible fruit or nut and do they grow quickly enough for it to be cost-effective to kill lots of them yearly in palm-heart production?

The harvest of hearts of palm is actually a really big issue in deforestation -- globally, but especially in the Amazon. Since it's a fairly upmarket product, multinationals leapt into the game, competing for palm stands in developing countries. Sort of like the worst of the logging companies, the big corps have for the most part made no attempt to replace what they've harvested. Can we say "bottom line"?

Because the traditional method of harvest is simply cutting the tree down, big problems have resulted. Fewer trees means diminishing habitat for lots of little critters, which means a harder life for the bigger critters that feed on them, and so on. Also, local residents rely on the palm trees for much more than food -- they utilize the fibers, palm oil, fruit, etc. You wouldn't think that something as innocuous as a novel salad ingredient could cause such biodiversity nightmares, but it does.

There's a fairly new movement to harvest hearts of palm sustainably. Right now this means a couple things. It could mean that growers replace trees they cut down. They're also planting varieties of palm that mature in as little as 2 years, which means that replacement trees aren't a generation away.

But they're also using new growing methods that encourage a tree to grow shoots -- sort of like bamboo shoots. The shoots are harvested and the tree stays put.

Just a little palm trivia for you. Next time you pick up a can, you might want to see if it claims to be harvested sustainably. If not, maybe plant a couple of palm trees....

Here's a link to an interesting article on the shoot harvesting. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2214383.stm