Food festival? Festival food?

[FoodieSam]

I know that Japan has a whole bunch of different festivals, and a lot of them are religious or based around a shrine. They have processions a lot, and I've read about ones with types of dances in them. But, I haven't heard about a festival that's just about food. Is there one that you know of? Or does food not play a big role in those kinds of festivals? I'd love to go to a festival and just eat a whole bunch of different Japanese food.
I know that there are other, more local festivals and there are stalls with food, like shaved ice in the summer. I'd also be interested to find out more about this food. Because over here, food stalls can either be really bad, like food poisoning levels of bad, or they can be practically gourmet, like a travelling restaurant-type good. So I was wondering what the food quality was like at festivals, too.
Man, now I want some food.

[Louie]

Food festivals... the only festival that I know involving food is the Moon Harvest Festival (o-tsukimi). In this festival, people eat Tsukimi dango (rice dumplings) and other food like pumpkins and chestnuts. It's a pretty old Japanese Festival and the one who get the most benefits are those who love to eat rice dumplings *ahem*. Of course, when eating them it would be best to chew it properly. There are some cases where some people (especially the older generation) choke on these dumplings so it would be best to eat them bit by bit and not eat them whole. Hmm...suddenly I felt the urge to eat some sticky rice ball dumplings because of this post

[Tara4Eva]

I love their bread with different fillings. My friend brought 2 packs of various flavors and they all tasted so good!

[FoodieSam]

That's a bit disappointing, Louie. I was really hoping for a festival, but I guess I'll just have to make the most of the supermarkets and department store food halls. make my own festival, if you will, ha ha. Those rice dumplings look good though. I won't get any here, so that's another thing for the list. I'm gonna be so full when I finally get to Japan; I'll be eating *everything*. I'm a bit scared about that whole choking deal, though. Who knew Japanese food could be so dangerous?