Gastronomic Benchmark

New Zealanders are pushing culinary boundaries at this year’s Hokitika Wildfoods Festival serving up shots of horse semen to iron-stomached food lovers. The equine delicacy will be on the menu at the annual festival held on March 12 along with other gastronomic delights such as raw scorpions, chocolate-covered beetles and deep-fried grubs. “The idea is you’ll have as much zizz as a stallion for a week afterwards,” Christchurch racehorse breeder Lindsay Kerslake, who came up with the semen surprise, said. Organiser Mike Keenan said the festival began 22 years ago as a way of allowing city slickers to “get out of their comfort zone” and sample bush tucker. While much of the fare such as venison and wild boar is relatively unchallenging for mainstream tastes, Keenan said organisers liked to spice up the menu with more unusual offerings. In the past, these have included rams’ testicles and bulls’ penises, although Keenan admitted Kerslake may have set a new benchmark.