Description:
From apples to zucchini, if it grows, is born, or somehow arrived in the U.S., somebody, somewhere has probably devoted a festival to it. "The diversity of our cuisine is what makes it a distinctive national cuisine," writes Barbara Carlson in her introduction to Food Festivals, a guide to more than 400 events held around the U.S. Most of these celebrations have a carnival air, thanks to eating contests, parades, and competitions for the best, biggest, or most. Craft exhibits, traditional dances, and mass meals are also usual features. In each listing, Carlson includes background information, such as George Washington Carver's achievements above and beyond those celebrated in Tuskegee, Alabama's Sweet Potato Festival. She also indulges in delightfully flippant observations, which is understandable in the face of extravaganzas devoted to such foods as Moxie (the oldest carbonated beverage continuously on the U.S. market), Moon Pies, and bologna. Find out where people dance, flapping their arms like chickens, and where they play golf with balls made of frozen horseradish. The book organizes festivals by region and state, and indexes also list events by location, date, and food type.
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