From Georgia’s peaches to Maine’s lobster, nearly every state has its own prized food, and a festival to celebrate it. As delicious as these foods are, though, sometimes they can feel a little…boring. The next time you’re in a culinary lull, pack your bags and follow this list to find the country’s wackiest foodie fests. These events serve up a terrific sampling of regional cooking—everything from pig intestines to fruitcake—and are guaranteed to give your palate a jumpstart.
Waikiki Spam Jam
Spam is serious business in Hawaii. Nearly 7 million cans are eaten every year—making it more popular here than in any other state. It makes sense, then, that this salty mystery meat would get its own festival in Waikiki every spring. Headed into its ninth year in 2011, the free daylong festival now draws more than 20,000 visitors clamoring for Spam. And the restaurants—from small chains to high-end establishments—deliver, serving up Spam sushi, sandwiches, salads and even “Spamakopita,” a twist on the traditional Greek spinach-and-feta dish. The 9th annual Waikiki Spam Jam will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2011. Don't be miss it.
Chitlin Strut
Think chitlins are chicken? Guess again! Chitlins—a contraction of “chitterlings”—are actually pig intestines. This Southern specialty is made by frying or boiling cleaned intestines with onion, crushed red pepper flakes and minced garlic. The South Carolina town of Salley launched the Thanksgiving weekend festival in 1966, in an effort to raise funds for the struggling community. Featuring carnival rides, a hog-calling contest, parade and live music, the event draws nearly 50,000 people, and more than 10,000 pounds of chitlins are consumed.
Testicle Festival
Known as the Rocky Mountain Oyster Festival to the demure and the “Testy Festy” to the more forthright, the annual Testicle Festival draws thousands to the Rock Creek Lodge in Clinton, Montana, every August. With the motto “Have a Ball!” this five-day festival is definitely not for the timid. While there are plenty of events to keep patrons busy—tattoo, beer belly and wet T-shirt contests; oil wrestling—there’s one event that reigns supreme: the deep-fried bull testicle eating contest. Once armed with bottled water and two bowls of sauce, it’s every man for himself!
BugFest
Entomologists know there’s only one place to go come September: Raleigh, North Carolina, for the annual BugFest at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. For one day, the museum is transformed into a treasure trove of kid-friendly activities, displays and exhibits. This year’s festival on September 11 will focus on arthropods and aquatic bugs, and will include a beekeeping workshop. But the real highlight? Café Insecta, the restaurant du jour of the festival, which features a host of food that’s been bugified: cricket chocolate-chip cookies, stir-fried scorpions, ant enchiladas and more.
Banana Split Festival
There’s plenty of fun to be had at the ’50s-style Banana Split Festival in Wilmington, Ohio, but it’s also a matter of state politics. For decades Ohio has been locked in a head-to-head battle with Pennsylvania over which state invented the banana split. Ohio declared itself the original birthplace (thanks to mastermind Ernest Hazard, who created it in 1907), and the Wilmington Rotary Club has held this festival since 1994 to prove it. As a result, the town revels in two days of family games, entertainment, classic car shows and, of course, a massive amount of decadent banana splits.
Roadkill Cook-Off
Now in its 20th year, the Roadkill Cook-Off is a huge draw for the town of Marlinton, West Virginia. Last year, the Fine Living Channel even covered the event, which celebrates cuisine made with alternative proteins like groundhog, frog, opossum, squirrel and snake. In 2009, 12 teams competed in the cooking competition, with the $1,000 first prize going to a recipe for armadillo and roadrunner tacos. In addition to the cook-off, the event includes food booths (serving up similar “roadkill” fare) and an array of family-oriented events, such as the Possum Trot 5K, duck race and the Rockin’ Redneck Parade.
Fruitcake Festival
Plenty of jokes are made about receiving fruitcake during the holidays—but they assuredly never come from Monroeville, Alabama. This town of nearly 7,000 prizes fruitcake, and its connection with the author Truman Capote, whose aunt was the famous “Fruitcake Lady.” Now in its third year, the small festival offers a variety of special fruitcakes made by local chefs as well as a lawn party and silent auction featuring fruitcakes in fanciful tins.
Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup
Whether you’re in the mood to hunt ’em or eat ’em, there’s no better place for rattlesnake than Sweetwater, Texas, where the annual Rattlesnake Roundup is held every March. Started in 1958, the three-day festival has grown to include guided rattlesnake hunts, rattlesnake handling demonstrations and a Miss Snakecharmer Pageant, as well as a gun, knife and coin show. There’s plenty of Tex-Mex fare like chili and brisket to go around, but save room for the festival’s main delight: deep-fried chunks of diamondback rattlesnake.
Giant Omelette Celebration
For two days every November, the town of Abbeville, Louisiana, bands together for one purpose: to create one of the largest omelettes imaginable. In honor of the large-scale omelette festivals in France, more than 5,000 eggs are piled into a 12-foot stainless steel skillet—along with 52 pounds of butter, 50 pounds of onions, crawfish tails and more—and cooked over a wood fire by a team of select chefs who are part of an omelette sister-city program that spans from France to Argentina. Once cooked to perfection, the omelette is served up for free to festivalgoers.
World Grits Festival
Grits are a beloved staple of the South, but the people of St. George, South Carolina, have taken grit adoration to a new level. The three-day World Grits Festival draws tens of thousands of patrons each April, eager to check out the arts and crafts, listen to music and bask in the glory of grits. Eating them is, of course, first priority—there are Grits Dinners each night, grits sampling booths and a grits eating competition—but the town is so crazy for this starchy staple, they even have a “Rolling in Grits” event. To compete, contestants dive into kiddie pools filled with cooked grits and try to cover themselves in as much of the good stuff as possible. The person with the most pounds wins!
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