This weekend, the tiny town of Hokitika, New Zealand, population 4,500, will be flooded by 17,000 foodies, who are flying, driving and bussing in from all over to sample the oddest delicacies they can get their mitts on. The town’s 18th annual Wildfoods Festival takes place March 10 and 11, celebrating local produce and specialties from NZ and Australia. The menu includes everything from toffee grasshoppers to ostrich, crocodile and kangaroo, but the main attraction is the wide variety of prepared bugs and beetles. One stand, operating under the moniker “Freaky Native Sushi,” is even pickling them and rolling them into insect maki.

If that doesn’t sate your appetite for locally raised or foraged foods, look into an article from last week’s Globe and Mail travel section about the Maori take on Slow Food, which is bringing lots of near-forgotten flavors to the region’s contemporary cuisine.

– Wildfoods Festival (Official Site)
– “Maori munchies” (Globe and Mail)
– Tagged: Food
– Tagged: Bug Eating

(image via Mielitabeetle’s photostream)