There are many reasons why I love living in Sydney and ended up calling it my home.  Firstly, is how multi-cultural this city is and secondly, throughout the year Sydney puts on some amazing free festivals.

Chinese dragon marking the start of the Moon Festival

Since I have known Ian he has been talking about the Moon Festival at Cabramatta.  Not because of the multi-cultural aspect, oh no, but the fact he won a prawn peeling contest one year and a mooncake eating another.  Even though our reasons were very different we were both keen to go to Cabramatta’s Moon Festival, Sydney’s largest Asian festival.

Balloons of every colour make up from the lack of blue skies

A few years ago I was not particularly adventurous with food; chicken and some of the green stuff suited me down to ground.  However, a stint in Taiwan changed all that. It wasn’t by choice, it was a necessity!

It was eating as the locals do or starve.

As a result, a new world of food opened up to me and I discovered the culinary delights of Asian street food.

The Cabramatta Moon Festival was, therefore, a marathon eat fest. Ian and I ate steamed dumplings, noodles, yummy coconut jelly, Peking duck pancakes, barbequed satay chicken skewers, jerky house pork. My belly was ready to burst by the end of the day, but I still had room for something small. How about a bug or 2?

I first saw insects on the menu at Thailand’s wonderful night markets and I was absolutely grossed out by the prospect of putting a creepy crawly in my precious mouth. However, I decided to be brave when I discovered the Edible Bug Shop was doing a live cooking demonstration at the Moon Festival. On the disgusting degustation menu today:

EDIBLE BUGS MENU

Crispy Garlic & Chilli Crickets

Crackers & Citrusy Avocado Dip sprinkled with Ants

Toasted Honey Muesli with succulent Mealworms

And for the hardcore, bug-eating fanatics:

Simply Ants!!!!

The verdict, I found the crickets left a bitter after taste, but the mealworm muesli was actually pretty yummy.  However, I wasn’t in a rush to go back for seconds, it is very hard to put an insect in your mouth and chew – even if they do taste good.

Interesting Facts (in case I haven’t grossed you out enough) 

• The average person consumes 450g of insects per year, vegetarians even more!!!
• Chocolate can have up to 60 insect fragments per 100 grams

Besides the yummy food stalls and live cooking demonstrations, there is plenty of other things to keep you entertained. Of course, there is infamous one-handed prawn peeling contest, the noodle slurping contest, the Mooncake eating contest and beginner chopsticks contest. And how did Ian do this year…

The One-Handed Prawn Peeling Winner

Info: The Cabramatta Moon Festival is held early September every year, check the website for exact dates. Parking is a nightmare, so the best way to get there is by train; T2 and T3 trains run regularly from Central. And the best thing, it is free!

Children Painting Paper Umbrellas.