Hokitika Wildfoods Festival

Christchurch contingent takes a breather at Hokitika Wildfoods Festival

A large contingent of Canterbury gourmands and stallholders took a breather from the post-earthquake clean-up in Christchurch to join in the stomach-challenging fun at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival on Saturday March 12.

“It was great to see them here and we made sure they had a big welcome,” festival organiser Mike Keenan said.

About 10,000 people from all over the country descended on tiny 3,400-population Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island for the annual event.

Attending the festival – now in its 22nd year – has become a traditional rite for students. Festival organisers donated 300 tickets free to the student army that has been cleaning up Christchurch streets and properties since the earthquake on 22 February. The Farmy Army was also sent 200 free tickets in appreciation of their efforts.

“Our stallholders love to chat with the customers and, on the day, if they found out it was a member of the clean-up army they were serving, they’d give them a sample for free,” Mr Keenan said.

While a few stallholders from Christchurch had to pull out of the event, others had their best day ever, including Nico Fini who returned from Waiheke Island where he has taken his family since the earthquake.

Mr Fini, whose Urban Escargot stall has been at the event for 17 years, said people kept coming back for more of his famous lamb shanks, snails imported from Burgundy, and “Viagra” cookies.

“I have to make this my last year at the festival now I’ve moved north, but I so enjoy being here I would like to find a way to bring my stall back again without it costing too much.”

Another stallholder from Christchurch, Robyn Perkins, was an energetic sight, pedalling a stationary bicycle to power her fruit smoothie blender. She said, “It was touch and go but we couldn’t stay away from the Hokitika festival.”

• Happy, laid-back crowd
Mr Keenan said, “I rate this as one of the best festivals we’ve had. The crowd was one of the best I’ve seen and there was a relaxed, happy, laid-back atmosphere to the day.”

“The weather was sunny and warm and everyone was well behaved. The alcohol stallholders did their part by handing out bottles of water to help keep alcohol levels down. From the campsites to the hotels, the whole town played its part in making this a great weekend. The St John Ambulance team on site said they had fewer issues to deal with than at any time in the past.”

Dances were held on both Friday and Saturday nights at the venue with the wide range of entertainers providing for most musical tastes.

Tiny Hokitika has become highly efficient at accommodating festival-goers. Tent cities spring up in school and camping grounds throughout the area.

Strict rules help keep the peace with no drinking and no glass allowed on the streets downtown and all alcohol at the festival venue in Cass Square sold in plastic cups.

West Coast Police Senior Sergeant Tim Crawford said, “I’m really pleased with people’s behaviour. Arrests were significantly down on previous years and they were low level offending, mainly breaches of the liquor bans around town.”

Mr Keenan was delighted that 10,000 festival-goers turned up when, just a few weeks earlier, rumours that the festival was cancelled were circulating on Facebook, based on early difficulties the festival was having sourcing portaloos after the Christchurch earthquake.

“We had a bit of work to do to scotch that rumour and did it through Facebook. And we did have portaloos on the day,” he said.

• Outrageous food
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The Hokitika Wildfoods Festival is listed by the Frommer Travel Guide in its top 300 unmissable festivals and events around the world.

Festival organiser Mike Keenan says, “We certainly lay claim to being the most outrageous food festival.”

About 65 food stalls plied the festival patrons with palate-challenging fare.

New food this year included:

- Stallion semen protein shots
- Raw and cooked scorpions
- Chocolate-dipped chillies
- Smoked manuka egg shots
- Deep fried baby octopus
- Pickled huhu grubs
- Seagull eggs

The stallion semen protein shots, specially separated under laboratory conditions to leave a light, milky but live protein fluid, drew a crowd. Stallholder and artificial insemination technician Lindsay Kerslake came up with the idea and made world headlines when it was announced as part of the festival line-up.

“Think of it like a healthy energy milkshake. Stallions are pure testosterone so you should have as much zizz as a stallion for a week,” he said.

• Mayor of Westland braves stallion protein shots
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Westland Mayor Maureen Pugh took a deep breath and allowed stallion waitress Kristi Jenkins to administer a stallion shot – au naturel in flavour – via laboratory syringe.

The crowd applauded her bravery.

Afterwards, Ms Pugh said, “There was a moment when I wasn’t sure I could swallow it but it wasn’t too bad.”

Following her example, many others lined up for a shot. Staff at the stall said during the day, many who’d given it a try returned, bringing others to have a go.

• Safe to eat
Mr Keenan said the semen shots were safe to ingest as were all the outrageous foods at the show like raw scorpions, grasshoppers and live huhu grubs. The huhu grubs remain a top attraction every year. Rotten logs are chopped open on site to reveal the grubs feeding inside. For the less daring gourmands, another stall was offering the huhus pickled on a toothpick.

Mother and son Susan and Joseph Wells from Auckland came specially to be at the festival. Both downed some live huhus and shuddered at the experience. Mrs Wells said, “It was slightly hairy and creamy when it burst, and it tickled all the way down.” Joseph, after recovering with hands pressed to his chest, said, “Ooh, the head was crunchy.”

Festival-goer TJ Brennan from Connecticut, US, downed a raw pickled scorpion and was quick to grab a fruit juice slug to help wash the taste away. Mr Brennan, who has been working on a dairy farm at Te Anau, said he was homeward bound to the States and didn’t want to miss the festival before he left. Last seen he was doggedly working his way round all the most outrageous food stalls to sample their wares.

West Coast polytechnic, Tai Poutini, provided the scorpions, both raw and cooked. Tutor Larry Naylor says the scorpions are specially bred in Mexico for human consumption. The stings in the tails must be removed manually before customers pop them into their mouths.

• More traditional fare
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Plenty or conventional food was available for satisfying the appetite. They included champion Wanaka sausage maker Simon Tiefenbach, originally from Germany, who uses his grandfather’s recipe for the pork and fennel sausages that have won him the Supreme Gold award in the Great New Zealand Sausage Competition.

• Festival good for the community
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Most of the stallholders had sold out all their food by the end of the day, with community group stallholders making the event their annual fundraising event.

“The festival is a major fundraiser for community groups on the West Coast, for example, the Karamea Community Hall kitchen has been entirely refurbished with funds from their stall,” Mr Keenan said.

Stu Moir, of the South Westland Whitebait and Smelt stall, was once again able to make his annual $2,500 donation to the West Coast Cancer Society.

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