Asia-Pacific food festivals: a taster
During his career chasing stories all over the map, writer Steven Knipp has enjoyed many a memorable meal while globetrotting. Here he takes us to two of the Asia-Pacific region’s most lively, fun-filled eating and drinking events.
For a very long time after finishing school, I managed to keep to my university swim-team weight. But then I discovered food fairs.
There’s something about eating outdoors in the fresh air, together with family and friends, that arouses an appetite. The sights and aromas of so many cooked foods, some you know and love, others you may have only read about; how can any mere dietary discipline compete?
Over the years, as a widely travelled reporter, I’ve attended scores of food fairs around the world. But two of my favourites are in northern China and northern Australia respectively.
China’s own Oktoberfest | Qingdao International Beer Festival
July 15–August 7
Tasty foods and cold beer are both on tap at the annual Qingdao Beer Festival // Courtesy of Qingdao International Beer Festival
To my mind, any great food festival ought to have three things: it should take place in summer; be set near the sea; and aside from lots of food, there should be plenty of liquid refreshment. In this case, China’s annual Qingdao Beer Festival, hosted on the city’s Golden Sands Beach, fits the bill brilliantly.
It’s no accident that this festival takes place in Qingdao (pronounced “ching-dao”). For more than a decade, up until the First World War, Qingdao was a German colony. The result: even today, over 100 years after the Kaiser’s people departed, Qingdao is China’s most Teutonically tidy city. And the people there are still mad about beer.
So, not surprisingly, this is where China’s celebrated beer brand, Tsingtao, has been brewed since 1903. During Asia’s version of Oktoberfest, over 1,400 different beers are available inside nine enormous tents. Scores of brands represent a dozen different nations from Holland and Denmark; to Germany and the USA; to Spain, South Korea and Japan.
But there’s plenty of food to soak up the suds, like local seafood favourites of grilled prawns, oyster omelettes and chilli sautéed clams. Plus lots of western dishes for good measure, such as German sausages. Throughout the three weeks of the festival, there are 400 cultural performances, including live music concerts.
Darwin’s delightful after-dark festival | Mindil Beach Sunset Market
April 28–October 27
Darwin’s cultural melting pot under glowing skies at Mindil Beach Sunset Market // Courtesy of Mindil Beach Markets/Charlie Bliss
Open every Thursday and Sunday, 4.00pm till 9.00pm, this laid-back Outback festival is one of the highlights of visiting Australia’s famous tropical frontier town on the shores of the Timor Sea—a mere 12 degrees or so from the Equator.
There’s loads of live entertainment laid on, with fireworks, musical performances, fire-eating, and digeridoo demonstrations; and visitors can explore tented outlets selling a range of unique Australian products including Aboriginal paintings and wood sculptures.
But most fans—locals and out-of-towners alike—come to the Mindil Beach Sunset Market for its vast array of foods. Over the decades, immigrant families to Oz have flocked to Darwin due to its balmy climate, so the 60 food stalls here offer authentic Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Italian and Lebanese dishes.
But of course, there’s a bounty of offbeat Australian “bush tucker”—crocodile, kangaroo, and the delicious native fish, the barramundi.
The only thing to remember? After watching that stunning sunset over the ocean and tucking into a marvellous meal under the Southern stars, if you feel like taking a cooling swim in the sea: don’t. Mind the crocs—no, really, Darwin Harbour is full of them! You wouldn’t want to have come for a feed of local specialities only to end up a toothsome morsel for the resident wildlife yourself.