Hokitika has a Wildfoods Festival, in March each year, when our town of 3000 swells to 20,000 people for a day!
Wild (and wacky) foods of every kind are offered - seafood, wild fruit (blackberries, particularly) and meat from New Zealand's 'wild' (all introduced) animals... and other unusual items, like huhu grubs, some of which are served live!, garden worms (served in drinks, or in worm truffles, and no, I haven't tried these), and snails. The meat can include all sorts of unmentionable animal parts! and people queue up to taste them. Last year, Maori potatoes were served for the first time - these were purple, and yummy! They're not to be confused with the more common kumera. There is always hangi food (cooked in the earth) on offer, and people have brought in Australian taste treats like kangaroo, emu and crocodile. The Festival has become famous in NZ, and featured in an article in the New York Times, as well as on TV programmes related to tourism in NZ. Erica McLeod, in Hokitika, New Zealand Westland District Library Hokitika, New Zealand mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit our website at http://www.minidata.co.nz/westlib --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 18/06/03 To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED]
