They also served pumpkin flavored waffles, crêpes, and pasta, along with pumpkin seeds flavored with cinnamon and sugar, oregano, or salt. My favorites were the salty pumpkin seeds.
This festival began in 2000. The two creators were actually inspired by a pumpkin exhibit in Switzerland! In the early years of the festival, the pumpkins were just to look at rather than to eat, but nowadays the reverse is true.
In the past, pumpkins were considered a food for the poor. But today they have become more and more popular to eat, and for good reason, too: pumpkin soup really is delicious! Pumpkins are also hearty and colorful vegetables: the perfect food for the start of the colder weather!
In recent years, Halloween has become more celebrated in Germany. Looking at American traditions has inspired people to carve pumpkins and create more of a Halloween spirit.
This festival celebrates a vegetable which is an important part of this place's identity. Like in New Mexico, where we are very proud of our green and red chile, or in Washington state where the locals are very proud of their apples: here it is pumpkins that are held up and celebrated by the local population!
There were more than 400,000 pumpkins that had been grown in southwest Germany at this festival. A lot of people were involved in the organizing and had to plan ahead when thinking about when to sow their crop, so as to have their pumpkins ready to harvest in the fall in time for the festival.
There is also an entire display that shows pumpkins of different shapes, sizes, and colors from around the world.
