Hokitika is a rural town in New Zealand’s south island where the locals hold an annual festival, Hokitika Wildfoods, which brings the small population of the West coast together to celebrate their culture and the signature “wild” foods of the West Coast. So my flatmates and I hop in the car and drive nearly 10 hours from the east coast to west, taking the long way so that we could experience the beautiful, untamed landscapes. It was interesting to observe the shift in scenery, going from the dryer, open scenery of Otago to the more dense, lush rain forests of the West Coast.
Everything had a more feral feel to it, which is seemingly appropriate considering the Hokitika Wild Foods festival strongly encourages its festival goers to wear “feral fashion”. So that means people were dressed up wearing items such as animal pelts, leaves and flowers, bird wings, face paint, and other crazy get-ups. Moreover, it rained the entire time we were there- but of course, that didn’t stop the festivities- which only added to the untamed, devil-may-care spirit of Hokitika. So we pranced about in our own wacky ensembles, eating wild foods such as crocodile, kangaroo, deep-fried locust, deer pizel, and sheep hearts. Overall, Hokitika Wildfoods festival was an opportunity for us unleash our inner child who finally who got to eat all the bugs and play in the mud in a place where getting down and dirty is not only accepted, but highly encouraged. With that being said, I think it may be a little tough cleaning up our acts to return back to civilization.
