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Lisa Ramsden of Greymouth (right) samples snails cooked in garlic butter at the Hokitika Wild Foods Festival - Source: ONE News
This year's Hokitika Wildfoods Festival is expected to generate up to $3 million for the West Coast economy.
The 21st festival was one of the best yet, organiser Mike Keenan said, with headline acts like New Zealand rock band Elemeno P playing on the opening night.
Keenan says the event has matured over the years and is listed as one of the world's top 300 Unmissable Festivals this year by UK travel giant Frommer.
"Our event is based on the Coast's rugged individualism, which we know from experience brings a unique approach to delivering a mix of local and wild delicacies," says Keenan.
"The payoff in terms of exposure to target tourism markets is huge."
An estimated 13,500 festival goers had the chance to sample a range of exotic choices from more than 80 stalls.
The best New Food prize this year went to Shayne Wratt for his Glass Eyed Creek Sauce. For the second year running the overall prize for best stall went to the Udderly Divine Desserts stall run by mothers of the Kaniere Play Centre. Their pikelets made with bovine colostrum, the milk produced by the mother cow after the birth of a calf, and 'colostrum shooters' were again a real hit.
A free sampling of pukeko, which was made available from a limited local cull of the bird which is not protected, proved popular while many queued for whitebait patties, westcargots, duck giblets, mountain oysters, exotic sausages, huhu bugs, worm sushi, pickled and raw punga and wasp larvae ice cream.
