Food Capitals Of The World

A note for the Ecotone Wiki’s entries on Food and Place.

I think it’s a peculiarly American thing to name many a town and burgh the world capital of something or other. Not surprisingly a large fraction of these are food-related. Evidently Sacramento, not far from here, is the almond capital of the world. (Perhaps this makes Governor Arnold the Almond King?) Chico, a little farther to the north, isn’t daunted by this proclamation and also claims this title.

Perhaps most famous in California is Gilroy, south of the Bay Area, which is the garlic capital of the world, and nearby is Castroville, the artichoke capital of the world. A few miles to the south is Watsonville, the strawberry capital of the world. Throw in a bit of Santa Cruz county wine, and you have the makings of a good meal there.

As in the case of the almonds, sometimes there are several claimants to a title. Three towns in the Southern U.S.—Belzoni, Mississippi, Savannah, Tennessee, and Des Allemands, Louisiana—call themselves the catfish capital of the world.

Many of the capitals have food festivals associated with them. Gilroy has a garlic festival the last weekend in July that draws well over 100,000 people. Garlic fiends that we are, this sounds a good bit more appetizing than the annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival held over Labor Day weekend in Morgan City, Louisiana.