All the food festival inspiration you need
Singelpark Diner in Leiden
Het Amsterdamse Terrassen festival
Het Oesterfestival bij de Oesterij in Yerseke
Het Oesterfestival bij de Oesterij in Yerseke
Het Oesterfestival bij de Oesterij in Yerseke
Het Oesterfestival bij de Oesterij in Yerseke
Fête du Champagne et Vins
Fête du Champagne et Vins
Fête du Champagne et Vins
Fête du Champagne et Vins
The sun is shining and the Netherlands is enjoying the outdoors! There are plenty of festivals where we can go again! We love to visit a food festival, don’t you? We’ve seen some nice small scale festivals like last weekend FestiValk and the ‘Shit hot Fest’ in April, below a list of small, fun and tasty food festivals in the Netherlands and some nice international concepts, maybe inspiration for the Dutch hospitality industry and festival organizers! We found among others the Fête du Champagne et Vins, an oyster festival, a tapas festival, Singelpark dinner and an espresso martini festival..
You can organize a small scale festival within your own company or companies or build a ‘festival’ with fellow hospitality entrepreneurs, what’s stopping you as long as there are no festivals happening in your area? In this article some inspiration!
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Fête du Champagne et Vins
Have you always wanted to stomp grapes or sabre a champagne bottle? Then ‘Fête du Champagne et Vins’ is just the place for you! It takes place from the 26th until the 29th of May at the Rembrandtpark in Amsterdam. This festival returns to our capital for the third time. You’ll find wines, music, high quality French cuisine and tastings. This party is for everyone who has missed out on dancing, flirting and champagne lately. As they say in France, ‘Avec toi je suis moi’, the organizers of this festival say, ‘Avec toi je suis fête’. You can come and taste wines from over 100 different wineries, from well-known champagne houses to small boutique wineries. They really bring the French feeling to the Netherlands, very nice, and delicious if you ask us!
When? 26 – 29 may
Singelpark Diner
Six and a half kilometers of party, that’s what the Singelpark dinner in the Dutch city of Leiden stands for. It is an initiative to do something fun again together, with all the people of Leiden. The Singelpark route is a route of 6.5 kilometers along the canals of Leiden, you basically walk around the entire city center. Along the route you can get a snack or drink at 7 different places. Besides the food and drinks, there is also entertainment that will pass on the canals and there are surprises on the mainland. This year is the first edition, we are very curious about the route and all the delicacies they will serve! What we also like is that the earnings will go to the Leiden Issoria Hospice and Home.
When? On Saturday, June 25 for lunch and dinner and on Sunday, June 26 for lunch.
Oyster Festival in Yerseke
A fresh oyster in the sun, who doesn’t love that? You can find it at the oyster festival in the south of the Netherlands (Zeeland) in the small town of Yerseke. It is a 3-day festival all about the start of the new oyster season in the Dutch region Zeeland! After the official opening of the oyster season, the Oesterij created a festive weekend. Together with various local producers and entrepreneurs, they will introduce you to the versatility of oysters and other delicacies from Zeeland.
At the Oesterij you will not only visit the source of the oyster culture but you will also experience it. There is a store, a tasting room with a view of the oyster banks and a cinema. In the former oyster shed you can learn more about the entire production process.
When? September 17/18/19!
The Amsterdam Terrassen Festival
The ‘Amsterdam Terrassen Festival’ (terraces festival) is a culinary event, in the northern part of the Rembrandtpark, where you can enjoy specialties from the finest restaurants and food trucks from Amsterdam. A rich menu of entertainment is on the program. Every day (live) music and plenty of activities for young and old(er)! You’ll find among others Bar BAUT, Benji’s, Café Panache, Ceppi’s, Five Brothers Fat, No Rules, Olique Bar Bistro, Ron Gastrobar and Van Dam Brasserie. In addition to these participating terraces, there will be food trucks with a varied selection of dishes, and there is a cocktail bar. We can already see ourselves sitting there!
When? July 28th – 31st
TOOST Festival
Also fun, this summer TOOST Festival is once again traveling the country with a colorful caravan of food trucks, music and performers. Enjoy tasty snacks, celebrate the weekend with friends and family and dance with your colleagues in front of the rolling stage. Children are also catered for with a circus, face painting and the TOOST quiz. TOOST Festival travels throughout the country, the festival is in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht this Ascension weekend and in July in Brielle, check out their website to find out when TOOST is near you!
The tapas festival
During the tapas festival you can picture yourself in Spain for a day, without leaving Amsterdam. At DOK Amsterdam you’ll find the most delicious tapas, sangria, deejays, live acts and many more surprises. Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere with your feet in the sand and a sangria in your hand!
When? August 13, check out their event on Facebook.
Mr. Black Espresso Martini Festival
For the Esma (espresso martini) lovers among us, we came across the Mr. Black Espresso Martini festival. This year in December for the first time in Australia. There are a few colleagues here, who would love to visit a festival like this in the Netherlands as well! Mr. Black Espresso Martini Festival is a festival dedicated to coffee cocktails. The first version of the festival will take place on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, at Park House, a popular venue for Australians. The Mona Vale, which is a suburb of Sydney and the location of Park House has outside a ‘Truck Stop’, the perfect location for a three-day celebration for Australia’s favorite cocktail. They serve a variety of coffee cocktails from their shiny van. Examples of flavors include; salted caremello, coffee cherry cola, frozen espresso marTIKI, coffee spritz and coffee negroni. Which one do you like best?
When? December 6/7/8!
Gin & Rum festival
Lover of a gin and rum? Then you’ve come to the right place at the Gin & Rum festival. They organize festivals throughout the country. You can taste more than 100 types of gin and rum and be inspired by the wonderful stories behind these drinks. Meet the makers and enjoy familiar classics or discover the most unusual combinations. In any case, there is enough choice for the gin and rum lover!
When? Utrecht on 28 May in the Werkspoorkathedraal and in the Cruise Terminal in Rotterdam on 18 June!
Lepeltje Lepeltje
Another fun festival we came across is Lepeltje Lepeltje (translated literally: Spoon, Spoon), to be found at different dates and locations throughout the Netherlands. It takes place in the Ascension weekend in Dordrecht and in the Whitsun weekend in Amersfoort. Lepeltje Lepeltje has a wide selection of different snacks and drinks. Like Shakes On Wheels, which we already wrote about in the article about the food bikes. Lepeltje Lepeltje is an initiative of Kultlab, a young organization that is (co-) responsible for various events.
When? Different dates and locations throughout the summer.
The best food festival worldwide | Pizza Village in Naples
This is one of the festivals we love to visit and with us many more! ‘Pizza Village’ was elected the best food festival in the world, and has over one million visitors each year. It sounds like the perfect one item festival! Pizza Village will take place from 17 until 26 of June in Naples, it is a complex territorial marketing project centered on one of the italian symbols all over the world: Pizza. Pizza makers from all over the world, great music, competitions, amateur and professional pizza classes, entertainment and educational workshops, conferences, seminars: everything revolves around her majesty the Pizza. Innovation and culture have dictated the rhythm of constant growth, which from Naples has taken the Brand to Milan and New York, preparing it, with energy and passion, for its next destinations: London and Dubai.
When? From 17 until 26 June.
Lots of one product festivals take place in their regions of origin, like the truffle festivals in Alba Italy and in Napa, California or Salón del Chocolate in Quito. We love the idea of taking your land’s food pride, create a food festival around it and bring it to other countries as well! How about a Dutch cheese festival?
A Canadian food festival | Ottawa Poutine Fest
We Dutchies love our fries, as do the Canadians their poutine! In Ottowa they even created their Ottawa Poutine Fest! The program included Best Poutine competitions and of course a craft beer garden. It might be an idea for in the Netherlands and Belgium! Link to the festival website in the title.
When? ! It was held from April 28 till May 1 this year.
A summer food festival in the US | Smorgasburg
This is one very popular festival in New York, quoted by the New York Times as ‘the Woodstock of Eating’! We wrote about the raindrop cake on our website, it was here that the raindrop cake became a rage on Instagram! Smorgasburg is the largest weekly open-air food market in America, attracting thousands of people to Brooklyn, Manhattan, Jersey City, Los Angeles and Miami each weekend to eat from dozens of local vendors.
When? Throughout the summer!
