Come September in London and the 3 days Annual Chilli Festival arrives at the expansive Waddesdon Manor and the well spread out Victorian gardens but still wonderfully well maintained. Waddesdon Manor a visually eye-catching French Renaissance-style chateau in the English County of Buckinghamshire. For present purposes though, this is about an annual festival that takes place there that is fun to thin and talk about.
The event is called “Waddesdon Chilli Festival” that takes place in the first half of September each year. The heat is not just in the name, the festival stays true to its title in every sense of the word, Chilli. It is such a well attended event that visitors are allocated arrival slots so that not too many turn at the same time to choke entrances.
Very attractive stalls with attention grabbing text and images suck visitors towards them. Cuisines from around the world are represented in these stalls. The days fixed for the event are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Throughout the period there is also you live music, family fun and children’s activities as well as the opportunity to walk around the gardens. Something of interest for almost everyone.
Back to Chilli business. Food stalls are well stocked with every kind of food one can think about. I have been there twice. To start with one would look for some light stuff; cookies, cheese bits, crisps, etc. Each of the food items mentioned has chillies included. You take a cheese bit dipped in some chilli sauce. All seems fine till food goes beyond the throat. Then a sudden surge of hot chillies grips the throat. When one has had more than a fair share of “mild” intake, you think of relief. Time to test some chocolates or ice cream, but they too have chillies included. There is no escape once the cycle of festive pain.
The craziest part for those who enjoy self-inflicted pain is reserved for 1 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Taste buds and pain tolerance come face to face. On the stage set for music providers arrive 20 volunteers from the crowd. They are fed red chillies, staring with the mildest variety and then with increasing “hot” intensity in each successive round. It follows a process of voluntary elimination. The contest continues till all, bar one quits or survives the contest. There is crowd cheering at the start of each round. As the contest announcer said, there is no worse place at Chilli Festival than that occupied by the contestant coming second in the contest; falling at the final hurdle all for just a winner’s award hamper!!!!
The rest is all said in pictures and videos.