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International food festivals 2014-2015

If you're embarking on a spot of gastronomic tourism in the next year, here are some of the hottest dates.

Sarah Wormwell

Eat street: The San Francisco Street Food Festival.
Eat street: The San Francisco Street Food Festival.Supplied

With international food festivals proliferating as fast as food trucks, how do you decide where to spend your tasting dollars? Australia has Good Food Month as its star fiesta for food lovers (this year with Yotam Ottolenghi as the guest of honour) but what about the many festivals thriving in other countries? Most cities in the world boast at least one flagship food festival, a celebration of the culture and history of the city served up on a sustainable, disposable plate. Professor of gastronomic tourism at Southern Cross University, Dr Peter Wynn-Moylan, says the measure of a festival must be its authenticity.

"Whether it's preserving a tradition or introducing new regional flavours, a festival should reveal something elemental about the place you are in," he says.

If you are keen to factor in food festivals to your travel plans for the next 12 months, here are some worth circling on your calendar.

A taste of South America at El Gran Mercado, Mistu.
A taste of South America at El Gran Mercado, Mistu.Supplied
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San Francisco Street Food Festival

August 15-17, 2014
sfstreetfoodfest.com

"It's a street party, but on a massive scale," says festival committee member Michelle Fernandez.

Rene Redzepi will co-curate MAD Copenhagen this year.
Rene Redzepi will co-curate MAD Copenhagen this year.Erik Refner

"Don't expect too much polished cutlery, there is a real hippie vibe, all the vendors started by cooking street food and, as street food should be eaten on the street, that's where the party starts," she says.

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Organised by La Cocina, a local non-profit that supports aspiring food entrepreneurs, the roving event is a three-day affair: a ticketed Friday night market; an all-day Saturday street festival with 80 vendors, (entry is free, though dishes are not); and a Sunday food and entrepreneurship conference.

Authenticity rating: The real appeal of this festival is its social conscience. Its mission goes beyond just delivering great food; it's a celebration of entrepreneurship and emerging local producers and restaurants.

Don't miss: This year, Saturday vendors have been set a new challenge: their menu must offer a to-be-determined item that's a unifying dish across all cuisines, culminating in a "Top Chef"-style cook-off.

Mistura

Lima, Peru
September 5-14, 2014
mistura.pe

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The frog smoothie - freshly killed, skinned, poached and blended with a range of Amazonian health supplements - is not likely to appear on a Jane Strode menu any time soon, but for the Sydney-based chef it was a seminal moment of her Mistura 2013 visit.

"Food festivals should be about experiencing the new and trying different flavours; it can't help but broaden your palette," Strode says.

Last year's Mistura attracted more than 500,000 people, making it Latin America's largest food festival. Producers and restaurants are grouped into "worlds", showcasing Peruvian specialties such as chocolate, quinoa and bread.

Don't miss: El Gran Mercado, or the Big Market, was Strode's favourite "world". It is bursting with fresh produce and passionate producers showcasing their unique products.

Exotic Must-Try: Cushuro are tiny spheres of cyanobacteria that grow at altitudes above 3600m in small lagoons, pools and wetlands. Used deftly at Malabar, Central and Astrid Y Gaston - Peru's hottest restaurants - they add a unique texture and appearance with a flavour reminiscent of a subtle balsamic.

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Kaikoura Seafest

Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand
October 4, 2014
seafest.co.nz

Of the hundreds of food festivals that Professor Wynn-Moylan studies and visits every year, Kaikoura Seafest stands out as a shining example of "keeping it real".

"In terms of gastronomic tourism, all regions are not created equal; some have an abundance of resources and comparative advantages - Kaikoura is one of them," he says.

What Kaikoura - a tiny town on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island - has is a huge variety of marine life, thanks to a cold, nutrient-rich, deep-water trench just off its shoreline.

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Unsurprisingly, the stars of the town's annual event all come from local waters - crayfish, paua and mussels - served up with a commonsense, no-frills approach.

"It is not the most glamorous of festivals, but the quality of the produce is remarkable.

"If authentic, regional cuisine is what you want from a culinary vacation, then Kaikoura is a good choice."

Must eat: Whole crayfish steamed in salt water, then split and baked with Hapuku olive oil, riesling and herbs.

Terra Madre

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Turin, Italy
October 23-27, 2014
salonedelgusto.com

Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre - the slow food movement's biannual festival in Turin - is a culinary United Nations that mixes food politics with gastronomic pleasure.

More than 1000 farmers, chefs and food artisans from more than 100 countries showcase traditional foods and production methods, united in their fight against "McFood".

Former member of the Slow Food Sydney committee Justine Topfer says despite its size - roughly 15 football fields - the festival has "a great, convivial feeling of shared ideals and friendship".

"The diversity of visitors and foods is staggering, I met Basque shepherds, Indian rice growers and Maine potato farmers. I tasted cheese, wine, meat, honey, chocolate and herbs from all over the globe and came back bursting with new ideas," she says.

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"Fundamentally the event proved to me that good, clean, fair food, is not an elitist preoccupation, it concerns everyone."

Save a Food: From Afghanistan's Abjosh raisin to Venezuela's Barlovento cacao there are more than 1500 foods on Slow Food's "Arc of Taste" list of endangered foods. Festival organisers want visitors to taste - and champion - foods near extinction, in the hope that increased visibility will lead to greater economic viability.

Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine

May 15 to 17, 2015
litfest.ie

"There are already plenty of festivals focused on celebrity chefs and restaurants," says Darina Allen, arguably Ireland's most famous cook and founder of the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine.

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"I wanted to create an event that celebrated the art of food writing."

Enticing the food and wine literati is not the festival's only point of difference, it's also set in the bucolic Ballymaloe estate (home to the famed country-house restaurant and cooking school), allowing for forays into extensive country gardens and live demonstrations in a well-equipped kitchen, as opposed to the makeshift facilities of exhibition halls.

Don't miss: The Big Shed, located next door to the festival, is home to a free, fringe program of music, food and wine events. It's also the venue for the festival after-party, dubbed "foodie Glastonbury" by The Guardian newspaper.

MAD Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark
Late August 2015, check website
madfood.co

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Tickets are sold out for this year's event, because MAD Copenhagen is arguably the hottest ticket on the culinary calendar. Unashamedly "by chefs, for chefs" tickets have been limited to 600 since its inception in 2010. Those lucky enough to snare entry to the two-day event will be granted an audience with the food world's most influential opinion leaders.

Seminar sessions have moved away from demonstrations. For the first time in 2013 there was no kitchen on the podium. Instead, interactive panel discussions encouraged robust brainstorming.

Festival food is far from standard conference repast. Cutting-edge chefs from around the globe serve a sit-down, long lunch feast. Neither the 2014 or 2015 guest caterers have been announced, but last year Souk el Tayeb (20 women from Beirut's farmers market) and Mission Chinese NYC and San Francisco did not disappoint.

Star Wattage: Time magazine's cover boys, the "Gods of Food", Alex Atala, of D.O.M, Sao Paulo, Rene Redzepi, of Noma, Copenhagen and David Chang, of Momofuku, New York, co-curate this year's event.

Be organised: Monitor the website for the ticket sale dates for 2015 and then organise your 14-year-old IT-whizkid-nephew to secure your purchase.

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