Numerous travellers from all over the world flock to food festivals to sample gourmet dishes and learn about cooking techniques. It is usually an honour for top chefs to participate in such events and serve food to visitors. If you want your holiday to be not just good, but exceptional, find out where the greatest and most delicious gastronomic festivals around the world take place, like the Great British Food Festival.

Pancake Race (Olney, London, UK)

Every year on Fat Tuesday, everyone in London is lured outside like a magnet by the smell of freshly baked pancakes that are literally carried around the city. No, there's no mistake, and you read that correctly. Once upon a time in 1445 in the town of Olney in south-east England, a parishioner was baking pancakes on Fat Tuesday in defiance of the rules of Lent. Hearing the bells ring and coming out of a "pancake trance", she immediately ran to church to atone for her sins, but it was still not easy for her to part with the pancakes (and she can be understood), so the lady turned the latter right on the fly. Olney residents were so amused by this spectacle that they turned it into a tradition.

Today the Pancake Race takes place in both Olney and London. The conditions are as follows: whoever runs the fastest and flips the pancake on the pan the greatest number of times gets a kiss from the bellringer. In Westminster, by the way, such races are held among MPs and Lords.

International Black Food Festival

The festival was first held in 2016 in Budapest, followed by Tel Aviv, Berlin and Helsinki. Finland could not miss such an event, because they adore the colour black: it is in this country that liquorice has become popular, where you can find tartar ice cream, and Finns drink 10 cups of black as night coffee a day. Anyone wishing to present (and give a taste of) their new culinary achievements can apply to take part in the festival. There is one condition: the dish must be black, with no colouring agents added. Black pancakes, black cakes, black smoothies, black fruit and vegetables, black fast food - all these and many other black masterpieces can be tasted at the festival.

Lobster Festival (Los Angeles, USA)

Not every city can boast of hosting the largest lobster festival in the world. But Los Angeles can, because in 2009 this festival made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the record holder for the largest outdoor seafood platter. The heart of September's lobster festival is the port of San Pedro, but oddly enough, no lobster is caught here - the fresh catch arrives from Maine. In addition to delicious and inexpensive lobster and plenty of other seafood, music and pirate shows, visitors are treated to the most unexpected entertainment. The Lobster Parade, for instance, is an unforgettable spectacle: happy and proud owners march down the street in the company of their pets dressed as crustaceans, and onlookers squeal with delight and amusement (one can only pity the dogs).