Bizarre Food Festivals

Garlic bread is just one of the many things you'll find at the Garlic Festival.

F

ood festivals aren't new. Bigger ones that showcase entire cities worth of food are becoming more and more common, but ones that are more specific, like, say, a cheeseburger festival, are a little bit harder to find. But though they're less common, these strange ingredient-specfic festivals still attract plenty of people. Here are a handful of the more off-the-beaten-path fests we've heard of.

Garlic Festival - Gilroy, California
This festival is dedicated to all things garlicky. Leave your vampire friends at home and check out various foods for which garlic is the starring flavor. Contests also seek out the best chefs and cooks in the area, and there's plenty of oddities out there—garlic ice cream, anyone? We think this sounds good in theory, but it could easy get a little stinky.

"Bizarre" food festivals are becoming almost as popular as their "normal" food counterparts.

Turkey Testicle Festival - Huntley, Illinois
This one takes some real guts—er, balls, if you will—to attend. Each year, more than 4,000 people flock to this festival to enjoy cold beers and, yes, turkey testicles—often served battered and fried. While we can usually get behind fried foods, we think we'll pass on this one.

Like Spam? Check out the Spam Jam in Hawaii.

Roadkill Cook-off Festival - Marlington, West Virginia
This year's event took place on September 29, and each year, contestants enter their best fare featuring commonly road-killed animals—deer, possum, squirrel, raccoon, and more. Other events that take place during this one include the Possom Trot 5k, a dog show, and a welcome ceremony for Mr. and Mrs. West Virginia Roadkill, who are elected at a prior pageant, and who are living human beings, not flattened critters.

The Waikiki Spam Jam - Waikiki, Hawaii.
Spam, the canned meat that is inexplicably popular in Hawaii and Guam and almost nowhere else, is reviled by many and loved by very few. But the few that do love the stuff are loyal customers. This festival lets attendees taste-test things like spam burgers and spam musubi (similar to sushi, but with spam instead of raw fish), while local chefs compete to create new recipes. What's best? Judges crown a Mr. and Miss. Spam.

The Weird Food Festival - Los Angeles, California
The name of this festival should give you a hint that this is no burgers-and-fries ordeal. Here, you can sample grasshoppers, rhinoceros, and even more testicles. This festival is usually held between Christmas and New Years'.