Since its humble beginnings as a small riverside picnic among friends in 1980 to the grand foodie fiesta it is today, l’Aplec del Caragol occurs every May, about 100 miles northwest of Barcelona in the provincial town of Lleida. The party offers townsfolk and visitors alike a chance to enjoy a weekend celebrating one of the region’s favourite foods: snails.
So beloved is this Catalonian staple that the Aplec del Caragol attracts more than 200,000 attendees a year. The three-day party is by far the most important date on the city’s calendar and offers music, dance, a raucous parade of brass bands, and ample opportunity for eating and drinking. Children patrol the festival grounds with fully loaded squirt guns, and adding some Catalan flare to the event are castells (human towers) and sardanas (traditional circle dances).
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