It’s almost time for some wicked chowda!!! Olde Mistick Village hosts their annual Cabin Fever Festival every winter. The chowder cook off donates all the proceeds to a non-profit agency, Always Home that works on preventing family homelessness.
When the month of February rolls around, I get excited for this event! I attended my first chowder cook off event in 2012 shortly after I moved to Connecticut. Since then I have never missed the chowder cook off event.
The ironic part is that I didn’t like seafood, I never even tried clam chowder. I became annoyed attending so many local events that offered seafood, I felt that I was missing out. At my first chowder cook off event, I caved and decided to take the first bite of chowder! Once I took that first bite, I never looked back. Clam chowder is one of my favorite food now!
Many local restaurants will serve a 3 oz cup of their chowder at this event. Sometimes, you get to see a fun chowder recipe being tried out. I’ve seen some quite weird ingredients such as alligator, chicken & waffle, and many more! Once you sample all the chowder, you can select your favorite on the ballot provided and they will announce the winner for people’s choice. The restaurants are also competing to win one of the specified categories which includes most creative, heartiest, best use of regional ingredients and best flavor. These categories will be judged by a team of celebrity judges. The awards are given at the end of the event at the meeting house (church).
I love attending this event every year. This draws many people of all kinds - couples, families, singles attend. It’s so much fun for everyone! There’s always talk among people about where the good chowder are so it’s good to get that intel and plan your route for the day!
The chowder tickets are $2/each or $20 for a dozen tickets. You can purchase the tickets on the day of at the event at a marked location through the village. The village is an outdoor shopping mall but with 18th century New England vibe. Each of the restaurants will be in a shop so you can get to do a bit of shopping while you’re sampling the chowder or waiting in the lines. Olde Mistick Village is good about marking which shops have chowder and which have the tickets for purchase.
Looking forward to having some of the delicious chowder.
Read this blog for more information about Olde Mistick Village.