To all our vegetarian friends, look away now!
We got up early this morning to head down the coast to Hokitika as they were holding their annual Wild Foods Festival. 
It was cloudy when we left Paroa but the sun soon came out when we arrived in Hoki and we were soon feeling the burn! At the entrance gate were the Nkange Kwambile Dancers keeping everyone entertained whilst they were queuing to get in.
There were over 80 food stalls at the event and the first one we came to was the Hoki Hockey Huhu Grubs, you could either buy them alive or BBQ’d! 
The guys in the photo below were breaking tree trunks open there and then to retrieve the lovely fresh grubs.
We volunteered Greg to try these and he opted for the BBQ’d one, although hats off to him, he did go for the ‘Large’ one!! Yum, yum, love that look on your face Greg!
*Note from Greg: With Sarah & Eloise “volunteering” me for the various nibbles, I felt like a canary in a coal mine!
He actually said it was quite edible! We’ll take your word for it, it looks hideous!
The next stall we came to was the Soroptimist Whitebait who were selling their famous Whitebait Fritters on a slice of bread. I just couldn’t bring myself to try this, but Greg was straight in there!
He said it actually just tasted like an egg omelette and that you couldn’t really taste the whitebait.
A couple of photos below, doesn’t look very exciting!
OK, OK, so now it was my turn I guess.
Greg was trying to find something gruesome for me to eat and in the end let me off lightly with a little ole snail in garlic.
Yum, yum, it was actually quite nice!
Onwards and upwards and Greg was feeling more daring this time, so we went in search of some more delectable snacks. 
What’s this I see, ‘The Startled Worm Cafe’. Need I say more, I think you can see what they might be selling on this stand. Let’s take a closer look at their lovely menu of goodies on offer!
Greg opted to try two things from this stall, the Worms on Toast and the Worm Truffle. OMG we nearly threw up just watching him!
Go on Greg, down it in one! 
Luckily they also catered for those with a more sensitive disposition and so I bought a packet of ‘Worms for Wimps’ to share with Eloise!
OK, well done Greg, now let’s find something to wash that down with!
We gave the live Grasshoppers a miss and opted for the lovely cooked scorpions on offer from Tai Poutini Polytechnic, or should I say, Greg opted to try the lovely scorpions! Yey, brave man!
Apparently Greg said it was all legs and very crunchy!
This stall was more to my taste!
‘The Beehive’ selling honey ice cream, pancakes with honey and fresh honeycomb.
Did I mention that I’m starting that diet very, very soon!!
That’s all folks, we had a fab time and a great laugh at the festival, we hope you enjoyed our snapshots!
Your celebrities, get you out of there… Yuk yuk.. Looks like maggots on toast
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Greg, Stephane is very jealous – he wishes he could be there trying out those grubs!!! Mara is right – you’s are like “I’m a celebrity – get me out of here!!! Your picture is a sight Greg after you swallowed the maggot!!!! Sarah, u need to frame it!!!