5 food festivals in Europe you need to experience | The art of street food through its senses and fragrances
What is street food?
This term refers to ready-to-eat meal sold by vendors in public places, such as markets, fairs and other special events. More specifically, it’s about food sold on the streets that isn’t served in restaurants and coffee shops. It is characterized as convenient, facile and affordable and can be found in many different forms.
The history of street food
The way in which street food was developed has its origins in ancient times. Originally, this type of food was provided by vendors as they travelled across cities. An interesting fact is that in the excavation of Pompeii, signs of street food vendors were discovered having been active in the city. We should also mention that in the 1500s Aztec markets had a significant presence and were established in order to provide afternoon meals to the hard-working people. Furthermore, in Asia, the culinary culture has been based on street food for centuries.
These days street food has gained popularity especially in African, Asian and Latin American cities, where many residents are used to having a (commonly) warm meal. Despite that, ready-to- eat food seems to exist in European and Northern American cities too. Basically, the importance of street food was raised in the 19th century, when modern capitalist cities were developed. In the 20th century, the arrival of immigrants from the Middle East, Northern Africa and parts of Asia has contributed to the raised consumption of street food. Snacks and meals that are categorized as street food are usually named as such due to the low price and the fast way of satisfying hunger.
Street food in the global!
Data from Forber magazine, New York Daily News magazine and other sources showed that the most attractive cities for street food are located in Asia. More specifically, cities that were ranked highest were mainly in South East Asia (mostly Bangkok and Singapore) and East Asia (Tokyo and Hong Kong). Nevertheless, cities such as Istanbul, Tel-Aviv and some in Europe also gained high rankings.
The best food festivals in Europe
Oktoberfest | Munich (Germany)
Concerning the finest food festivals in Europe, we should not skip mentioning “Oktoberfest”, one of the oldest, longest and largest celebrations in the world. Participants are welcome to spend 16 days drinking beer and eating sausages and pretzels. The Oktoberfest is, undoubtedly, a special, lengthy festival to meet and celebrate the Bavarian culture that will take place in the city of Munich (on the Theresienwiese), this year, on September 21st to October 6th. The famous festival has been implemented 188 times and the ticket for this year starts from $332.30 per adult, offering a well-rounded visit to the fest, including reserved seats at tables in one of the tents offered.
Ludlow Marches Food and Drink – The Festival | Ludlow Castle, United Kingdom
One of the most famous food festivals in the United Kingdom is the Ludlow Marches food and drink festival. This year, in Ludlow Castle, celebrating 30 years of the organization, from 13th - 15th September 2024. In this festival, the finest growers, as well as artisan food and drink producers, food writers and other professionals will be hosted. Visitors will have the opportunity to taste new food, watch live cooking demonstrations (ex. cooking on fire bowls) and participate in food and drink workshops. The ticket is £13.00 for adults and £4.00 for children 5-13 years old. Family tickets and multi day tickets are also provided.
Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival | Galway, Ireland
This festival is worth the trip, because it has been organized since 1954 and it is, undoubtedly an interesting option for the lovers of seafood. It is going to be held at Nimmo's Pier, in the city of Galway from 27th to 29th September 2024. Seafood, live music and food stands will be the basic part of the 3-day event. Also, visitors will have the opportunity to watch the World Oyster Opening Championships, where teams from all over the world compete to shuck the most oysters they can. The ticket for the festival is a little pricey (€47.60 for the opening night and €57.96 for the championship), but a weekend pass is also provided (€175) and seems to be the best option. Just don’t forget to bring a raincoat as the weather can be unpredictable.
Stragusto International Street Food Festival | Trapani, Italy
The specified organization that takes place in the pretty Sicilian town of Trapani (24 July 2024 to 28 July 2024) stands among the other food festivals in Italy. Visitors will have the chance to experience street food from around the Mediterranean in the historic center of Trapani. More specifically, there will be savors of the Greek, Moroccan and even Serbian cuisine, alongside local treats and culinary clashes. For example, foodies will have the chance to taste arancini (saffron rice balls) and traditional Sicilian pizza called “sfincione”. In this party of flavors and smells guests will experience the atmosphere of an ancient market being relived. The cost of the tickets was not available but you can easily find information on the official website (https://www.stragusto.it/en/) or contact (Infoline: +39.340.2427212, Organizzation: Associazione Culturale Trapani Welcome, email: info@stragusto.it).
Our lovely experience - Athens Street Food Festival 2024 |Greece
We visited the Athens street food festival that was held at the Old Railhead of Gazi, in Athens. This event has been conducted in the city since 2016 and we must admit that it’s the largest food festival in Greece. Every year, in springtime foodies come to Gazi to taste fabulous treats from different places in the world. The festival was conducted during three consecutive weekends (10- 11-12, 17-18-19 and 24-25-26 of May 2024) with an entrance fee of 3 €.
While visiting during the last week of the festival, we were very excited to see plenty of stands of street food. These stands were mostly pop-up stores offering delicacies from Asia, United States of America, Africa and Europe as well. In some of the stores, famous Greek chefs honored with Michelin stars and other acknowledged chefs participated making their own suggestions about street food snacks.
For example, a woman food blogger with the nickname “Madame Ginger” participated in the pop-up food project “The mushroom”, organized by the Aria Fine Catering. Madame Ginger and the executive chef Dimitris Panagiotopoulos provided catering with their own recipes (vegan snacks such as gyros made of mushrooms and a special one called soft chocolate mushroom cookie, with porcini mushroom and whipped cream). Another pop-up store that offered interesting meals was “Hanky Panky”, by chef Grigoris Kikis. A special recipe made by him was the double smashed burger with beef, onion in brewing, metsovone cheese, miso and other ingredients. Both of these brands are based in Athens. Other pop-up stores offered food from Ethiopia, India, Honduras, Vietnam, Italy etc.
Concerning our choices, we tasted squealer meat with french fries, salt and oregano in a wrap and it was delicious! The store “The Squealer” is located in Kalamata, a town in Peloponnese, and through the meal we had the opportunity to savor an authentic flavor of the southwest Greece, in Peloponnese. We also ate the lobster rolls, from the pop-up “Libertine Lobster Bar”, from New England. It was a great and refreshing dish, with a smart combination of ingredients. However, the rolls were a bit expensive, considering that we were eating comfort food, at a street food festival. After this, we enjoyed the known bao bun filled with duck by the Thai restaurant “Tuk Tuk”, in Athens. It was soft and very tasty! An interesting fact is that bao bun has its origins in China and means chopped bread. This store also provided the national dish of Thailand, “Pad Thai”, as well as the famous green glowing panna cotta, and other vegan, pescatarian and gluten-free dishes.
Other than salty choices, the stores also served sweet snacks, such as the famous sweet of Danube, “chimney”, french toast with sugar and cinnamon (by the all day coffee shop in Athens “Peggy Sue”) and vegan ice-cream, by the store “Plan(e)t ice cream, located in Monastiraki, the city-centre of Athens. We chose to try two flavors of this unique ice cream, so we tasted no- sugar strawberry cheesecake and triple chocolate brownie. Both these two flavors were unexpectedly tasty and totally vegan and lactose-free!
Visitors to the festival also had the opportunity to have cozy drinks, such as the famous Aperol. This stand included a spot with chaise longue where people could easily relax and enjoy their drink. We did not choose an alcoholic drink, but a refreshing and tasteful freddo espresso from the famous brand of costa coffee (from the United Kingdom). Apart from the fact that a cool coffee was the best finish for us, it was a very low-cost choice for the lovers of freddo and coffee in general.
Last but not least, participants had the opportunity to take photographs at photo- booths and join in fun games, that ended with tasting a cool drink for free. The whole experience was definitely awesome, filled us with enthusiasm and helped us become aware of new tastes and cultures.
Marithea Ntanasi
Sources | Book: Gastronomy and Urban Space, Book: The History of Taste, Berlin.de, Tripadvisor, Cnntravel, Athensstreetfoodfestival, Oneman
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