Bizarre Food Rituals Around The World You Won't Believe Are Real

You don't have to be an intrepid explorer to know that the world is a very, very strange place. All across the globe, hundreds of different cultures exist and go about their lives, each compelled by their own history, traditions and odd little quirks. It doesn't really matter where you are — whether it's Kenya or Japan; England or Siberia or anywhere else beyond — the simple fact is that we've all got our own way of doing things. This is particularly true, of course, with the food we eat. Every culture has its own way of cooking and consuming food, and more than a few have their own utterly bizarre rituals (at least, as far as the rest of the world is concerned), in which religion, history or even circumstance has driven them to doing things that any other culture would, frankly, be shocked at. These are but a choice selection of the oddities our world has to offer.

The Inuits are not like us. They inhabit the northern regions of Canada and Greenland, and are hard-wired to live and thrive in some of the harshest conditions known to man. They've never farmed — they can't — so they fish, hunt and trap to eat. Their customs regarding marriage, childbirth and death have been a source of fascination for hundreds of years.

In terms of diet, the Inuits will eat anything from walrus to whale to polar bear to whatever fish they can hunt from the ice waters of the Arctic. Very few spices or complex cooking methods are employed, and some food is eaten while still frozen. Naturally, they drink seal blood too. Much of that has to do with location more than tradition, but the final one is the kicker — it's considered good manners in some Inuit cultures to pass wind after eating, as a form of appreciation. Something tells us that's a tradition that wouldn't go over too well in many places.

Spain isn't exactly short on strange food events and rituals — Bunol's annual tomato fight, for example, is a legendary festival for locals and tourists alike. Less famous, however (despite arguably being much, much cooler) is the Haro wine battle. Haro, in Spain's northern La Rioja region, is a small but important part of the country's wine making tradition.

It's said that the festival can trace its roots back to the 13th century, when a tradition saw Haro's inhabitants mark its property lines between them and their neighbors in Miranda de Ebro, to prevent Haro being subsumed by that town. In the 17th century, the tradition broke down and the residents of each town settled their differences by throwing wine at each other, and thus a new tradition was born. Today, the revelers (dressed in white, of course) join a procession, and take part in religious mass before battling for hours against each other with buckets, water guns, hoses and anything else they can get their hands on. After the battle is over, the feast commences. Doesn't sound too bad, really.

The Koryaks are a tribe of people indigenous to a coastal region in the very far east of Russia. They're extremely capable of enduring the harsh, cold lifestyle of northern Russia and tend to eat foods such as reindeer, fish and any berries they can forage. This might not seem too far out for a culture which has adapted to the cold, but there's something to be said for their more unusual approach to the consumption of mushrooms.

For hundreds of years, it's been known for the Koryak people to ingest hallucinogenic mushrooms for largely recreational purposes. All the classic symptoms are there: exhiliration, euphoria, and hallucinations, along with the natural comedown which consists of headaches and nausea. In that sense, there's not a lot of difference between the Koryaks and those surfer dudes down at the beach who never actually seem to do any surfing. Where the Koryak distinguish themselves, however, is in other Koryaks drinking the urine of those who've consumed the mushrooms, so that none of their hallucinogenic powers should go to waste. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the practice has been on the decline ever since vodka was introduced to the region.

Wazwan is a feast, a ceremony and an art form all rolled into one. It's a tradition held by the Kashmiris of northern India and originated in the 15th century when the invasion of the warlord Timur led to a great number of cooks (among others) settling in the Kashmir Valley. The feast itself consists of a staggering 36 courses, each of which is meticulously prepared and cooked using only the finest meats (lamb, chicken or mutton) and vegetables. Guests, in groups of four, share the meal from a platter known as a traem. Over the following hours, they're served seekh kebabs, korma, lamb ribs, chicken in countless sources, yogurt, chutney, meatballs, rogan josh, roasted lamb and more.

The Kashmiris take wazwan incredible seriously, viewing it more as an art to be perfected than a meal to be prepared, and the chef in charge — known as the vaste waze — is usually nothing less than a master at the craft.

Impressively, however, Cooper's Hill's cheese rolling isn't even the weirdest British food festival out there. That title goes to the Seething Sardine Festival, which takes place every year in Surbiton, because Seething isn't actually a real place. During the sardine festival, crowds gather in the town before following a number of fisherman down to the River Thames, to encourage and support them as they try to catch as many sardines as they can, despite sardines not existing in the Thames in any capacity whatsoever.

Afterwards, when the sardines haven't been caught, four giant guinea pigs lead the crowds back to the local Claremont Gardens for a BBQ, music and games, most of which are themed around sardines. It's probably best not to question it, really.