REPOST: Traveling to food festivals for oysters, chocolate and beer

All of us may be trying desperately (or at least occasionally) to eat enough wild Alaskan salmon, leafy greens and quinoa salads. But let’s be honest; if we’re making the effort to pack a bag and book a flight in search of flavor, it’s going to be for something decadent.

The Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival in Ireland and the Salon du Chocolat in Paris are two more obvious choices for edible extravagance. Having just celebrated its 60th anniversary, the oyster festival has grown from a banquet for 30 to one of Ireland’s most celebrated events, with music, shucking competitions and historical tours marking the beginning of the oyster harvest (Sept. 25-27).

Salon du Chocolat hosts several events focused on the darling of indulgences, this year in Japan, Belgium, Russia and England; all amuse-bouches to the main course in Paris, a virtual fondue pot of international confectioners and pastry chefs mixing, tasting, building towers out of, and designing clothing with cacao (Oct. 28 to Nov. 1).

But some of the world’s richest treats aren’t quite as refined. Take, for instance, the “doppelbock,” a doubly strong version of an already thick and malty beer first brewed by the Paulaner monks in Munich in the 17th century. Oddly, it was brewed during Lent, when fasting allowed only the consumption of liquids. The more potent the beer, the more nourishment they got, or so the story goes, and the local flock was happy to follow their example.

Today, the tradition is celebrated during Starkbierzeit, or “strong beer time,” the first of Germany’s spring beer festivals (Feb. 27 to March 15). It begins each year at the Nockherberg brewery’s Paulaner beer hall and garden, former home to those crafty friars, with the tapping of the first keg of Salvator, the original brew, just as strong. Look for other varieties, as well as oompah bands and other entertainment, at any of Munich’s abundant breweries.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival may have mile-long trains of crawfish bread and stuffed-mirliton, but the gumbos and gravies of the South Louisiana Blackpot Festival & Cook-Off in Lafayette win crowds with personality. Each pot entered in the festival’s 10th anniversary cook-off this year (Oct. 23-24) represents centuries of Acadian and Cajun history, family recipes tweaked and tooled over the years to compete for modern palates.

Crowds gather at competitors’ pots on Saturday evenings while the judges decide which wins the day in five categories: gravies, gumbos, cracklins (or “gratons”), jambalayas and desserts (yes, pies, cobblers and even cinnamon rolls cooked in cast iron).

Americana plays throughout, from the region’s best zydeco to Appalachian bluegrass, topped off with an accordion contest and square dancing lessons. And in the campgrounds, where most out-of-towners settle in for the night, there’s more grilled boudin sausage and fried catfish to be shared, most likely along with a fiddled fais-do-do from a neighboring tent.