Opinions

United Kingdom - It's all a fudge

by Mike Levy

It took a day trip to Rudesheim am Rhine to open my eyes, ears and stomach to the pleasures of local speciality. The little town was celebrating the first fruits of its vineyards – a cloudy, sweet, somewhat cidery wine that went very well with local onion tart and cabbage and a swig of Asbach brandy to follow. The event brought out tourists and locals into the little town square. The Germans have a real penchant for community eating: it takes very little to bring out the picnic tables, drive up the mobile sausage grill and set up stalls for drink, tasty desserts and local oddities.

The little festival took me back to camping in France in the 80s. Almost every little village would have its local festival. One, I remember in the Drome area, held an annual Festival of Garlic complete, I recall, with the crowing of a Garlic Queen. Others would celebrate their little bacchanalia over the town’s cheese, wine, apricot or peach. These little events have big consequences: they bring people together, draw in the tourists and add colour and pageant to the ordinary everyday of any place.

So my gripe is this: why don’t more places celebrate something: anything? In England, yes, there are annual apple fests, the odd beer binge and an occasional rhubarb romp. But these are few and far between. I can’t think of anywhere that doesn’t want to promote itself as a destination for money-spending visitors. And yet there is little fresh thinking over fresh produce festivals. I could image even inner cities – my home town of Leeds could be an example – having an annual Fudge Fiesta, the centre of Wigan hosting a yearly knees up about nougat or a dire estate in Glasgow drawing in tourists with its unique Irn Bru weekend. It’s not asking a lot to turn the most unlikely place into a tourist destination – so will meet you next year at the soon-to-be-famous Tottenham Treacle Pudding Gala – that has to be worth a day trip.