The Eierbal Festival is returning to Groningen in September, and this year’s edition will feature the first eierbal eating championship in the Netherlands.
Sikkom reports that the festival celebrating the Groningen delicacy will once again be held at EM2 on the grounds of the former sugar factory in the west of the city. During the eating contest, 10 participants will have 10 minutes to consume as many eierballen as they can.
In case you have never had the pleasure of trying this distinctly Groningen dish, an eierbal is a peeled hard-boiled egg that has been wrapped in a layer of ragout and then deep fried into a large ball. It’s similar to the Scotch Egg, but imagine that with a gravy-like meaty sauce instead of sausage.
Event organiser Saskia Jonker, the founder of culinary blog Smaak van Stad, says that there will be plenty of the beloved snack on hand this year: in 2018, the event was so popular that they actually ran out of eierballen.
Snack bars from across Groningen will be providing all kinds of eierballen: Cafeteria de Paardeschuur, Restaria Zuid/Kwalitaria Jolie, Cafeteria Koning, Friet van Piet, Uildriks Worst, De Krokettenfabriek and Echte Eierballen van Sloots – the inventor of the Eierbal – will be on hand to serve up the snacks. In addition to the fried food, the festival will also feature live music, a Groningen pub quiz, a workshop for how to make your very own eierbal and games.
Econ 050: Dining in the north
Through her culinary blog De Smaak van Stad, freelance journalist Saskia Jonker has gotten a taste for what’s happening in the culinary world of the north, and she recently sat down with Econ 050 to share her thoughts on the latest food trends and her personal favourite places to grab a bite in Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland.
