When we heard of a festival where people hollow out giant pumpkins and then race them on a  lake we were naturally intrigued. We satisfied our curiosity in early October last year when we attended the annual Burlington Pumpkin Festival and Regatta held on the sunny Lake Champlain waterfront in Burlington, Vermont.

Using pumpkins as boats and racing them – that’s bizarre but awesome! This festival got me thinking – what other wacky food festivals are out there?

We did a little research and found the following festivals; wacky but no doubt worth attending. They all involve food, but they’re not all about eating it.

View Wacky Food Festivals from Around the World in a larger map

If you’re planning a world tour – why not make it a ‘wacky world food festival tour’ instead…

Burlington Pumpkin Festival & Regatta (Vermont, US)

Early October

This is a fun, family oriented festival where participants dress up in wacky costumes, hop in their hallowed out pumpkin boats and race around a short course on the beautiful Lake Champlain.

These pumpkins are big enough to be used as boats; I never knew pumpkins could grow this big, let alone seen them up close. Be sure to mingle with the friendly locals and enjoy the festivities. I’d also recommend you try a flatbread pizza from the American Flatbread restaurant and a local pumpkin beer during your stay.

Consider yourself something of a gardener? Why not grow your own giant pumpkin and enter the regatta this year!

Tip: We found the best viewing of the race to be from the breakwater rocks, but you have to get your position a little before the race starts otherwise we found the crowd tends to block access.

Similar events seem to occur in various small towns across the US and Canada – been to something similar? Let me know.

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling (England)

Held in May (Lately Spring Bank Holiday – last Monday in May)

Take an incredibly steep grassy slope, a handful of daring competitors and a 7-8lb round of Double Gloucestershire cheese and you essentially have the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling Festival. The cheese is rolled down the slope and the daring competitors chase and tumble after it – first to grab the cheese is the winner! Various other countries including New Zealand and Canada have tried to copy this event, none however in my opinion have truly captured the essence of the Gloucestershire festival. Why is the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling festival so awesome you might ask? Well it has a lot of history with reports of events dating back to the 1800’s, they have a seriously steep slope which makes it practically impossible to get down without falling and when you get to the bottom it appears like the local rugby team is waiting to tackle you – as if you hadn’t already sustained enough scrapes and bruises…

Unfortunately due to injury concerns (33 injuries in 1997) and logistical problems this event has not run officially since 2009, but unofficial events run by enthusiasts still happen…

Chinchilla Melon Festival

Late February

First held in 1994 the Chinchilla Melon Festival is a celebration of the town’s watermelon farming. Normal enough you think until you see ‘melon skiing’ and ‘pip spitting’ as key festive activities…

The town is  home to John Allwood, the Melon Head Smashing world record holder (47 melons smashed in one minute). I had to laugh in private at John’s last name, although no way would I be laughing in Mr Allwood’s face – the current melon smashing world record holder would easily ‘smash’ me.

Visit Chinchilla in late February and you’ll witness (or participate in) various wacky melon activities and competitions including Melon Skiing, Pip Spitting, Melon Bullseye, Melon Ironman and more…

La Tomatina

Wednesday towards the end of August

The famous tomato fight held annually in Buñol, Valencia, Spain really needs no introduction and is easily the biggest wacky food festival on my list attracting over 30,000 people. General advice is to wear goggles, earplugs and decent footwear but no other clothing that you’re not prepared to throw away afterwards – and be prepared for a serious tomato fight because this festival gets crazy!

Ivrea Carnival – the Orange Throwing Battle

Late February

If you’re trying to decide between spending February in Australia or Italy, I’d go with Italy because this orange throwing battle is the largest food fight in Italy and looks a little more exciting than Chinchilla’s melon festival.

The history of the throwing of the oranges is not known for sure but a popular theory is that it commemorates the cities uprising against a tyrannical duke. The duke attempted to exercise his “right” to spend the night with a newlywed  woman (the Miller’s daughter) who refused and ended up chopping his head off. City revolutionaries then stormed and burnt down the palace. The carriages with armoured throwers are supposed to represent the duke and his guard while the teams of orange throwers are the revolutionaries.

Since oranges are a little more dangerous than tomatoes you have to join a ‘team’ if you want to throw and if you want to remain a neutral spectator you just need to wear a red hat.

Best family friendly options are Burlington pumpkins and Chinchilla melons.

Messiest food related festival certainly goes to La Tomatina.

My favourite would have to go to Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling festival; I just love how entrants crash and tumble down the hill and then get tackled at the bottom, awesome.

Have you been to any of these? Which would be first on your list?

Header (feature) image by Flydime on Flickr