I visited the artichoke festival in the artichoke capital of the world, Castroville with some friends last weekend. Still not sure how you crown yourself a title like that, but we did see a lot of artichokes. It was the typical North American festival complete with a classic car show, concert with hay barrels to sit on and kettle corn. Festivals here are more organized than ones in South America. I usually correlate slight disorganization as a bit more fun, but I enjoyed this festival immensely, complete with the greatest crowd watching in the agricultural armpit of the state. There were no dressed up baby Jesus statues or guinea pigs on sticks, but it replaced these traditions with some just as entertaining attractions.
Not only did it have the not so conventional touches on food such as artichoke tacos, burritos and cupcakes.
But it also provided an artichoke art competition.
Probably the most entertaining part of it was the artichoke eating contest. Each of the five competitors tried to eat 3.5 lbs of whole artichokes.
and the champ…
It was good times.
