Event Date: 10 March 2012
Tickets: Adult $36, Child $5
Around this time last year a troupe of costume-clad international students and I traveled eight hours across New Zealand's South Island to a small town in the country's Western Coast. Namely, Hokitika.
With a population of just over 3,000 people, Hokitika sits relatively under the radar and is "famed" for solely three things: Greenstone carvings, black sand beaches and its annual Wild Foods Festival.
Fortunately, the infamous Wild Foods is held beachside just minutes from the town's best and brightest greenstone workshops. Perfect for seashell collecting and scoping handcrafted pounamu jewelry in-between meals.
Trust a veteran, you might need an escape from all the strange things you'll be eating.
Attracting more visitors than the town's own population, thousands flock to Wild Foods each year for a taste of the festival's creepy, quirky, crawly, and sometimes slimy menu offerings.
This outdoor adventure doubles as a costume contest and features vendors from around the world selling anything from soy-ginger crickets to worm sushi to raw scorpion and sheep testicles.
Last year's most-talked-about included 2 oz. shots of flavored horse semen and Hoki Hocki huhu grubs - said to taste faintly of peanut butter.
This year, kiosks such as Lions Offal Den and Westcargo will offer foods that seem to sound more like an excerpt from Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes than a bite to eat - note: The Den's eyeball eggnog, jellied brain and vile vertebra, and gelatin-covered snails by Westcargo.
But fret not my non-brave (or should I say non-crazy?) eaters. Even Lions Offal Den will offer "normal" options like coffee and tea.
Better yet, stop by the Black Forest Waffle Hut, Papa Cols 'Backed' Potatoes, or Kiwi Churros for a totally tastebuds neutral bite.
As for wine and spirits, Tohu Vinyards of Marlborough will partner as the festival's official wineholder while Jed's Moonshine, Prenzel, Virgin Gold Honey Mead, Fiji Stalls and Flower Power will provide libations vis-à-vis the modern cocktail, hops + barley and the ancient nectar honeymead.
Other star swills include Fijian kava - a ground root drink with tingly, mellowing effects; as well as homemade rhubarb and elderflower champagne.
Below you'll find some photos from one very wild trip that I can't wait to do again. For a full list of stallholders, be sure to browse the 2012 lineup here and the Wildfoods site for additional info.
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| new friends plus me, where's Waldo? |
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| raw scorpion |
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| black sand, a product of the very geothermal Aotearoa |
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| horse unmentionables |
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| sipping honeymead |
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| Fijian kava booth |
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