Last Updated on April 12, 2022 by Jim Ferri
A list of food festivals in Europe in 2022 that will tickle your culinary senses…
Estimated reading time: 22 minutes
By Jim Ferri
Updated for 2022
“People who love to eat are always the best people,” said the celebrated Julia Child.
Child knew that dining with a group of total strangers is a bonding experience. Even among those who don’t speak the same language.
Sit around a table with newfound friends at food festivals anywhere in the world, and you’ll likely heartily concur. After all, food is the universal language of humankind.
In Europe, however, where so many countries share a common continent, food festivals provide an incredible bouillabaisse of regional cuisines in a relatively small area.
And there’s also that genetic component. If one’s ancestors are from Europe, you’ll likely find the family meals of your childhood at these festivals. They’re events that bring you back for seconds and thirds.
Many Festivals Returning for 2022
In 2020 and 2021, with a pandemic raging throughout the world, all of the food festivals in Europe were canceled. In 2022 most will be back and are likely to be better than ever due to pent-up demand.
This year, as we have for the last several, we’ve put together a list of the best food festivals in Europe in 2022. Many of these festivals are multi-faceted. Some include musical aspects, for example. But to be on the list, the festival’s primary focus must be food.
We haven’t covered wine festivals or beer fests, although there is a multitude of them, or food festivals that have denigrated into massive food fights, such as La Tomatina in Valencia.
This list is not all-inclusive since there is a multitude of smaller festivals scattered all over Europe. There are just too many to include here.
In any case, as we’ve noted in past years, all of these food festivals in Europe in 2022 are worthy of gourmet grazing.
And if you can’t attend a festival, visit some of the great food halls you’ll also find throughout Europe.
– Belgium’s Food Festivals
Antwerp: Taste of Antwerp (Antwerpen Proeft)
May 26–29, 2022
Now in its 14th year, Antwerpen Proeft is Belgium’s largest and leading food festival. Entry is €8.50-12.50, which includes a welcome drink and discount voucher. As in previous years, tens of thousands of people should attend this popular food festival in Europe in 2022.
More than 25 restaurants and caterers from in and around the city offer an astonishingly diverse range of cuisines. They range from traditional Belgian to Mediterranean and French.
Oostduinkerke: Shrimp Festival (Shrimpfeast and Shrimppageant)
Annually during the last weekend of June.
Head to Oostduinkerke on the Flemish coast of Belgium for a festival that heralds the fishermen who ride into the sea on their horses to trawl for shrimp. This way of shrimp fishing is so unique UNESCO recently added it to its world list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
At the Shrimpfeast, held the last weekend of June every year, the catch is brought to shore where it’s cooked in any number of ways. Activities include a Shrimp Parade on Sunday afternoon.
Kookeet Bruges
September 24–26, 2022
Bruges has long been known not only for its beauty but also its cuisine. With 12 Michelin-starred restaurants, little Bruges is a Mecca for gourmets. In fact, the last year Kookeet was held, it attracted more than 100,000 visitors.
Consequently, this year many of the city’s top chefs will again introduce you to some highly diverse gastronomic gems. According to the organizers, they all possess one or more Michelin stars, a Bib Gourmand mention or have a high GaultMillau score.
The festival is held in a large tent and this year the organizers suggest you try the scallop, truffle risotto and smoked duck. In addition, it’s also affordably priced too, with most dishes under €10 each.
– Czech Food Festivals
Prague: Prague Food Festival 2021 (Praha Festival Potravin)
Note: The Prague Food Festival is usually held the last week of May. It’s uncertain, however, whether the festival will be held in 2022. We are continuing to ascertain the date and will update it here when we receive notification.
Now celebrating its 15th year, the festival is held in the Royal Gardens at Prague Castle. That is fitting, since the gardens were originally ancient vineyards. Some two dozen of the capital’s best restaurants partake in the event. And, it was filled to capacity the last year it was held.
It is Prague’s gastronomic event of the year where you’re offered appetizers, soups, main courses, desserts and a specially curated festival menu, along with tasting booths for coffee, chocolate, wines, beer and other delectables. The entrance fee for the previous event was €21 (approximately $26).
– Denmark’s Food Festivals
Copenhagen: Copenhagen Cooking
August 19–28, 2022
To celebrate the culinary culture of Copenhagen and Denmark, the Danes have launched Copenhagen Cooking, one of the top food festivals in Europe. During the festival chefs from leading restaurants will pay homage to the country’s Nordic food culture.
The festival includes more than 100 unique events ranging from intimate dinners with Danish chefs to huge food events for thousands.
During Harvest Feast (Høstfest), 1,500 people dine at a 1/4-mile-long table on Frederiksberg Allé. The dinner is made by eight local restaurants in collaboration with local producers.
Harvest Feast tickets are DKK 300 (approximately $44) and include a three-course menu from one of eight participating restaurants. Each restaurant offers its own menu – when buying your ticket, you decide which restaurant(s) you want to try.
Attendees, however, must bring their own cutlery, plates etc. Thankfully, there are shops on Frederiksberg Allé where you can purchase cutlery for the event. You can also bring your own beverage, or purchase it from the bar. Tickets will go on sale on the Copenhagen Cooking website after June 25.
While there is a fee for dinner, there are also free events such as tastings and talks. In 2019, 80,000 visitors attended cooking workshops, wine tastings, and other events about the city.
– Finland’s Food Festivals
Helsinki: Baltic Herring Festival (Silakkamarkkinat)
Note: Date not yet set but it is usually held the first two weeks of October.
Every October fishermen bring their small boats to the wharf at Helsinki’s Market Square to sell their catch. About the square you’ll find plenty of herring prepared in a variety of ways, as well as other foodstuffs. The fair activities include a competition for the best herring dish and a race of traditional sailing ships.
Although a bit of a niche festival, Silakkamarkkinat is an ancient tradition in Helsinki that has been held every year since 1743.
Helsinki: Taste of Helsinki 2022
Note: Date not yet set but usually held in June.
Up in Finland, Taste of Helsinki, the largest gourmet food and wine festival in the country, adds something unique to food festivals in Europe in 2022.
At this festival, in addition to other events, 12 of the best restaurants in the city, including three Michelin-starred establishments, prepare a picnic lunch for you. There’s plenty of wine, champagne, and beer to go along with it.
Also, if you’re traveling about Scandinavia, you may be able to time your trip to coincide with the festival.
– France’s Food Festivals
Honfleur: Shrimp Festival (La Fête de la Crevette)
October 15–16, 2022
Held annually in one of the prettiest old ports in Normandy, and one of the best places to visit in France, Honfleur’s Shrimp Festival attracts thousands who come to town for the great shrimp-peeling competition.
There are also concerts, an arts and crafts market, and plenty of sea shanties as old sea vessels gather in the port of Honfleur. In addition to crevettes and other seafood, on the festival menu you’ll also find cheeses, meats, pastries and bread as well as plenty of Calvados and cider.
Gourin: Crêpe Festival (Fête de la Crêpe)
July 29 – 31, 2022
If you’re looking for a small-town festival with a food connection, on the last weekend in July visit the Brittany town of Gourin for its annual Crêpe Festival. Now in its 27th year, here you can feast on crêpes as well as galettes, the region’s famous buckwheat pancakes. And watch the contest to cook the world’s biggest crepe.
And, as you might expect, there’s also plenty of music and dancing in traditional costumes,
Arles: Rice Festival (Féria du Riz)
September 9 – 11, 2022
During the three-day Féria du Riz, the old Roman city of Arles adopts a decidedly Spanish flavor. As a matter of fact, there’s even the running of the bulls through its streets and bullfights in the old Roman arena.
There’s also plenty of seafood paella cooked in huge pans as well as churros and tapas for sale. The festival celebrates the harvest of the region’s distinctive red Carmargue rice. All in all, it’s quite colorful. You’ll find parades, music and men galloping about on local Camargue horses.
– Germany’s Food Festivals
Weimar: Weimar Onion Market (Weimarer Zwiebelmarkt)
October 7-9, 2022
Munich may have its Oktoberfest but Weimar, a small town southwest of Leipzig, has an Onion Market. Dating back to 1653, it’s more than 150 years older then the beer-fest in Munich.
It’s a huge market with more than 500 stalls selling everything, and anything, having to do with the popular bulb. The festival attracts approximately 300,000 visitors each year. In addition, there’s plenty of other foods (sausages, spiced Lebkuchen cakes) and drink too, along with entertainment through the city. Stay for the contest to choose the “Queen of the Onion”.
– Great Britain’s Food Festivals
Abergavenny: Abergavenny Food Festival
September 17–18, 2022
At the Abergavenny Food Festival, 200 exhibitors from Wales and England come together. They then host product tastings, kids’ activities, master classes, and hands-on cookery lessons. The Festival has become one the highest profile food events in Britain.
Visit the five festival sites about town and try everything from Welsh onion bread to Herefordshire cider. It attracts nearly 30,000 visitors and has been the winner of “Best Event in Wales” in the National Tourism Awards. All tickets must be purchased online.
Brighton: Foodies Festival 2022
April 30 – May 2, 2022
The Foodies Festival, the UK’s largest celebration of food and drink, now celebrates its eighth consecutive year. Accordingly, this year’s Brighton event includes Michelin-starred chefs, Great British Menu Winners, MasterChef Champions and top local chefs cooking their signature recipes.
This year’s events include DIY Tea Blends; prosecco & parmesan tasting; beer and chocolate tasting as well as cocktail & botanicals masterclasses.
Exeter Food and Drink Festival
September 16-19, 2022
Now in its 15th year, the Exeter Food & Drink Festival celebrates the food and drink of Exeter and southwest England. It is held in the courtyard of Exeter Castle and the surrounding Northernhay Gardens, right in the center of the city.
The Festival also includes two “Festival After Dark Events” featuring live music and chef demonstrations.
London: Taste of London 2020
June 15-19, 2022
A Taste of London is just that, the opportunity to savor culinary creations of 40 of the city’s top restaurants and celebrity chefs. Better yet, it’s an open-air feast that takes place in Regent’s Park. The five-day event showcases the most popular dishes from their extensive menus.
There are workshops and tastings, masterclasses and 200 food and drink stalls. The entrance fee is £17 per session plus additional fees for tastings, although tasting tickets (which include two dishes) and other options are also available.
In addition, this is a biannual festival; an additional Taste of London event is held in November at Tobacco Dock – Wapping Lane, E1W 2SF. Dates for the November event will be confirmed later in the year.
Nantwich: Nantwich Food & Drink Festival
September 2–4, 2022
This wide-ranging Nantwich Food & Drink Festival brings together producers from Cheshire, as well as around Britain.
Set in two main venues, and smaller ones scattered about the town, it has tastings of beer and wine, sausages and vinegar, foraging walks, cookery demonstrations, jam judging, even a cocktail workshop. There is also a wide variety of street food stalls. Better yet, entry is free.
– Hungary’s Food Festivals
Békéscsaba: Csabai Sausage Festival (Csabai Kolbászfesztivál)
October 20-23, 2022
This festival, about 3 hours by car southeast of Budapest, celebrates the paprika-spiked Hungarian Csabai sausage. The highlight of it is the sausage-making contest in which about 500 teams compete.
There are also traditional pig-feast meals, a stuffed cabbage-making competition, folk music and a wine festival. It’s attracted about 10,000 visitors in recent years.
Budapest: Gourmet Festival
May 27–29, 2022
If you enjoy gourmet Hungarian food, this is the food festival in Europe in 2022 for you. According to the organizers, almost the entire list of the top chefs in Hungary will be at the festival. They include those from the countryside as well as super-stars from Budapest.
Also attending will be the World’s Best Female Chef in 2017, Poland’s first Michelin-star chef, and a pastry chef from the Food Network. The aim of the festival is to allow people to sample all of the country’s best restaurants in one place.
– Ireland’s Food Festivals
Dublin: Taste of Dublin
June 16–19, 2022
First and foremost, Taste of Dublin brings together the top chefs of Dublin and Ireland. It is held in Dublin’s stunning Iveagh Gardens. Over four days, the city’s greatest and hottest restaurants will fashion together exquisite signature dishes.
There are afternoon and evening sessions, each lasting between 4-5 hours, depending on the day. This will allow time for visitors to enjoy their picks of restaurant dishes, browse the artisan stalls, and enjoy some of the many attractions. Tickets are sold separately for each session.
Galway: Galway International Oyster & Seafood Festival
September 23–22, 2022
The Irish know how to party, and they throw one of the largest food festivals in Europe in Galway every September. Some say it’s the most famous Irish festival after St Patrick’s Day. Be that as it may, it’s also the world’s longest running Oyster Festival, now in its 66th year.
You can down countless pints of Guinness and beer while consuming copious amounts of oysters and other seafood. It all kicks off on Friday evening with the World Oyster Opening Championship, followed by music and parties throughout the weekend. It is one of the top food festivals in Europe.
– Italy’s Food Festivals
Alba: International White Truffle Fair (Fiera del Tartufo)
October 8, 2022 – Sunday, December 4, 2022 (estimated date)
Alba is a small Piedmontese town that comes alive every October for the Truffle Fair. It’s an important event for which some of the world’s most famous chefs fly in for the annual truffle auction. The auction is an invitation-only event where the exotic truffles can go for more than $1,200 a pound.
In addition, it’s a festival that showcases the foods of Piedmont including roast pork, salami, polenta, etc. Mangia!
Foligno: The First of Italy (I Primi d’Italia)
September 29 – October 2, 2022
This festival takes place in the Perugian town of Foligno. It is the first, and only, National Festival of First Courses….pasta, rice, soups, gnocchi, and polenta. It’s a lively festival that includes tastings, demonstrations, master classes and even the creation of traditional medieval foods for sampling.
You’ll also find some quirky food events such as pasta sculpture and food clips from classic movies.
Naples: Napoli Pizza Village Festival
Note: the exact date is not yet confirmed but it should take place in June 2022.
Enjoy pizza? If so head for Naples, the home of pizza, for this spring pizza food festival in Europe in 2022. It’s held on the city’s seaside promenade (Lungomare Caracciolo).
Now in its 26th year, the festival is hosted by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (The True Neapolitan Pizza Association). Its mandate is to uphold the standards of authentic Neapolitan pizza.
You can sample a large variety of pizzas (classic Italian, wood-fired, freestyle, even gluten-free) at the festival, which also includes free concerts and other events. Last year 30,000 people attended the 10-day event.
– Netherlands’s Food Festivals
Amsterdam: Rolling Kitchens (Rollende Keukens)
May 25–29, 2022
For one long weekend, every year in Amsterdam dozens of gourmet-food trucks roll into the city’s Westergasfabriek park. Then they turn the park into an enormous open-air restaurant called Rolling Kitchens.
You’ll find quite a variety of food, everything from Indian cuisine, American barbecue, and fresh Italian pizza. There’s also sophisticated Dutch seafood and delicacies. Add music, dancing and rides for the kids. and the whole event takes on the atmosphere of a county fair.
Amsterdam: Taste of Amsterdam
June 2–5, 2022
Every year for four days in late May /early June you can enjoy a Taste of Amsterdam. As you might imagine, there is plenty of eating and drinking.
24 restaurants offer more than 100 delicious dishes to let you create your own dream tasting menu. In addition to entertainment, there are also tastings, demonstrations and master classes. If you love Amsterdam, this is likely the food festival in Europe in 2022 you’ll most enjoy attending.
– Portugal’s Food Festivals
Portimão: Sardine Festival (Festival da Sardinha Portimão)
August 3-7, 2022
If you love sardines, Portimão’s Sardine Festival on the Algarve may be your nirvana for food festivals in Europe in 2022. Here you’ll find countless sardines charcoal-grilled and dusted with sea salt with sides of potatoes, perfect to down with a cool, crisp vinho verde.
While competitive eaters can enter the festival’s sardine-eating contest, everyone can enjoy the music when the festivities morph into a music concert at 10 pm.
– Spain’s Food Festivals
O Grove : Seafood Festival (Fiesta de Marisco)
October 7–18, 2022
O Grove is a Spanish town in Galicia, on the Atlantic coast near the Portuguese border. It’s not a big town, but even so, every October it hosts one of Europe’s largest food festivals. The festival is dedicated to seafood, including shrimp, crabs, clams, scallops, and even barnacles). Chefs also compete to come up with an innovative mussel dish.
It’s all infused with a lot of dancing and folk music. It claims to have the best seafood in Europe and annually attracts more than 200,000 visitors over the 10-day period.
You may also enjoy: 5 Fantastic Food Markets in Europe for Dining / Some of the Best Renaissance Festivals in the US / Great Things to Do in Helsinki
– Sweden’s Food Festivals
Stockholm: Taste of Stockholm (Smaka på Stockholm)
June 3–6, 2022 (digital event only this year)
In Sweden, people bid farewell to spring at the beginning of June when they host the Taste of Stockholm, four wonderful days of food and music in the downtown park Kungsträdgården. Last year it attracted 350,000 people; this year, however, it will only be a digital event.
About 30 of the city’s best restaurants set up outdoor stalls to serve everything from traditional Swedish dishes to exotic creations from other parts of the world.
– Switzerland’s Food Festivals
Gruyères: Gruyere Cheese Festival (Fête du Fromage à Gruyères)
May 1, 2022
There’s no better place to sample Gruyère cheese than in the little medieval village of Gruyères, northeast of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. And what better time than at the annual Gruyère Festival?
This one-day festival hosts demonstrations of the traditional preparation of cheese with Swiss and other European cheese makers, amid the fanfare of Alpine horns, music and flag throwing. There are cheese demonstrations, and also regional handcrafts for sale.
Lugano Autumn Festival (Festa d’Autunno)
Annually at the end September or start October – dates for 2022 to be determined
Ticino, the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, celebrates its grape harvest every year with a huge street food fair in Lugano. As in past years, at this food festival in Europe in 2022 you’ll find performers and street musicians offering traditional entertainment, as well as numerous stalls offering roast pork, risotto, gnocchi, polenta, minestrone and other Ticinese specialties. And, of course, plenty of vino. Delizioso!
Hi,
You definitely forgot to mention and include ‘open kitchen’ – Ljubljana, Slovenia. Did you know that Ljubljana Open kitchen was chosen among the top 10 street food destinations in the world The Guardian.
Open kitchen food market, every Friday from 10 am to 21 pm from April till end October, if not raining. Every week 50-60 different restaurants cooking in front of your eyes and preparing delish food to die for.
https://www.odprtakuhna.si/en/
Best, Sasha
Hi Sasha,
Thanks for telling us about Ljubljana Open kitchen, which, in a column on reader’s travel tips, the UK newspaper The Guardian named as one of the world’s “best street food stalls.” Although it certainly looks interesting (and delicious), it hasn’t been included among the food festivals because it’s not a festival per se, but a weekly food market. I’m definitely going to visit it the next time I’m in Ljubljana, which is a very interesting (and often overlooked) city.