Thursday, 4 December 2014

Madison's BratFest - an unbelievable gastronomic orgasmic fest 18.5 miles of brats consumed in 4 days !!

Wisconsin's Bratfest - an unbelievable sight - excess personfied in every which way!!!!

Wisconsin is dairy country. You get a vast variety of cheese and milk products. But one off shoot of the dairy industry is that Wisconsin hosts the largest Brat Fest in the world over a three day period.  For the uninitiated like myself, a brat is a sausage. Americans are great lovers of abbreviations and acronyms as well as changing the name of an item just for the sake of it. So brat comes from bratwurst or sausage. Here over three days, Americans consume a humongous amount of sausages or brats. Also known as hotdogs !
Situated around a beautiful lake, and there are many in Madison (state capital) and Wisconsin, the surroundings are idyllic for a very pleasant day spent strolling around in the park and just chilling. 
It was after we had rounded the corner to the park, that we saw the parking lot,    the ferris wheel and other tents. We had parked some way away essentially so we did not get stuck could make a quick getaway if needed.
in fact on our way out, we used a golf cart to reach our car we were tired and fully satiated after eating so many brats.  
This Brat fest is awesome. Read some of the statistics below! They consumed in 4 days, 18.5 miles of brats stacked end to end!! 

The first sight that greeted you was the stage and some artists performing. As yet being on the periphery, one is not assaulted by the sights of the brat fest!  

 
Boom, the first sight of the brat guys is this monster truck converted into a grilling area.
Right there the board informs you of the prices for each item. 

There are basically four types of brats on sale. Basic cost is US$ 1.50 and numerous counters for visitors to buy them. Service is fast and consumption is unbelievable. 

As the food is cheap, there are thousands coming throughout the day. They  have entertainment provided at two large stages whilst they eat these brats. 

This is the stall from Johnsonville - as you see very well laid out and ample space for visitors to see and buy.





These souvenir stalls were popular with everybody. T shirts and gift items moved off the shelves very fast.


The overall impression I got was that most Americans were over weight, that everything in America is in extremes and there is tremendous wastage of everything - food and packaging over here but elsewhere of all most anything. Nobody cares about excess and wastage.



Here you see some stalls where  shooting galleries offer fancy prizes if you are successful.     
One thing you notice that nobody cares what they wear in public - they appear to be unconcerned whether it suits them or how they look. Perhaps they think differently from how we see them. Its a very relaxed informal country.  


I am an event staffer states this guy's T shirt! Would not want to mess with him. See the size of his calves - like tree trunks.
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Text and photographs are copyright of the author. No part of any article or photographs maybe transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Do contact the author on email -- helpthesun@gmail.com