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The wacky Wildfoods Festival on the west coast of the South Island is not an event for the faint-hearted! Traditionally, the windswept west coast has had a reputation for its people living off the land and the organisers of this festival have taken this notion a few steps further by bringing together a celebration of weird and wonderful foods.
The small coastal town of Hokitika is completely overtaken as thousands of young Kiwis and tourists descend to titillate their taste buds for one weekend in March. In an open-air arena in the centre of town, hundreds of stalls serve up tempting fare. Some of the sumptuous delicacies on offer include: deep fried eel, magpie pies, roasted possums, duck tongues, wriggly worms, poached fish eyes (gruesome!) and the stomach-churning "mountain oysters" (otherwise known as sheep's testicles)... Yuck!
Many Kiwis find this a perfect excuse to deck themselves out in fancy dress - which means there is always an abundance of pretty strange-looking characters wandering around the stalls. To further add to the party atmosphere there's live music and plenty of beer on tap. |
