It's time to vote for the winners. Voting is open to both players and spectators. (And for players, voting is mandatory.)

This is what you are voting on:

To vote, send me a PM with the festivals ranked from best to worst. Seven points will be awarded to first place, and one fewer point will be given to each subsequent spot. Players will exclude themselves on their own ballot. (If you think I might have you on my ignore list, you might want to post in the thread to let me know that you intend to submit a ballot. Just in case...)

Each player's final writeup will be posted in this thread in a random order different from the draft order. This is the order for writeups, along with each person's picks and the number corresponding to their position in the draft:

9. soah - Thailand, Peru, Portugal, Lebanon, North Korea, Bolivia, Nigeria, Hungary
8. (Mrs) well named - France, Morocco, Kenya, El Salvador, Saint Lucia, Taiwan, Cyprus, The Netherlands
3. filthyvermin - USA, Switzerland, Argentina, Israel, Australia, South Africa, Austria, Norway
4. kokiri - Japan, Greece, Belgium, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Denmark, Malaysia, Syria
6. iamnotawerewolf - India, Germany, Cuba, Chile, Algeria, Cambodia, Madagascar, Ukraine
2. NotGonnaLie - Italy, South Korea, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Colombia, Canada, Tanzania
5. eyebooger - Spain, Ethiopia, Iran, Georgia, Ireland, Paraguay, Myanmar, Vatican City
1. Bloobird - China, Turkey, Indonesia, Jamaica, Russia, Sweden, Laos, Ecuador

Note: Two players dropped out without completing the draft. The picks that they had made are reflected on the map.

Discussion is allowed in this thread once all of the writeups have been posted.

soah:


Team soah and the Temple of Food


All of the countries I've drafted have their own writeups, including many pictures. To keep this post at a reasonable length, I will just link to them:

Thailand - Peru - Portugal - Lebanon - North Korea - Bolivia - Nigeria - Hungary


Our festival has offerings from every corner of the world, with a variety of flavors guaranteed to satisfy all visitors. You're probably familiar with Thai food, but where else will you have the opportunity to sample dishes from North Korea? The South American tents have fruits, potatoes, and corn variants that you've never heard of before. You have delicious European pastries to snack on during the day, and at night you can get drunk on the wines and Peruvian pisco. For main courses you have a full range of options for meat, fish, seafood, and vegetarian -- all prepared with sauces and cooking techniques that you won't find in your typical local restaurant.

(Mrs.) well named:



Visit five continents in an afternoon and enjoy some of the finest culinary delights the world has to offer!

France

Enjoy the best picnic you've ever had: the inimitable french baguette, cheese, wine and charcuterie. Or, have the magret de canard or the world famous poulet de bresse. Enjoy the fabulous atmosphere and world-class cuisine of our flagship french tent. Click here for more...

Morocco

After enjoying the finest food Europe has to offer, trek south to North Africa and the delicious flavors of Morocco. Munch on a chicken kebab seasoned in ras al hanout, enjoy a tagine, or blow your mind with bastilla, where the sweetness of powdered sugar and cinnamon pair beautifully with the savoriness of the chicken filling. Click here for more...

Kenya

Head yet further south, to the eastern coast of Africa, and discover the gastronomic joys of an Indian ocean trading hub you didn't know was an amazing culinary destination. Try a turmeric chicken sausage pasua combi, or the cinnamon dusted fried plantains. Savor the blend of tastes combining Swahili, Indian, and European influences. Click here for more...

El Salvador

Then, turn west, to central America, and the rainforests of El Salvador. Start your journey with a mango coates in chili and lime. Have some empanadas. Enjoy the distinctive Salvadoran horchata, or their take on tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Take in the Mayan art while you dine. Click here for more...

Saint Lucia

From El Salvador it's just a small hop into the Caribbean to Saint Lucia, for an island getaway. Nosh on some seafood, try a pepperpot, a shark and bake, or a curry-filled roti. Sip on a refreshing drink called sorrel: made from hibiscus, star anise, and cinnamon. Click here fore more...

Taiwan

After a small Caribbean island you'll find your way across the pacific to the South China Sea, and a very different island cuisine in Taiwan. Have some misnamed Mongolian barbecue, a black pepper bun, a pork-stuffed fried taro ball, all set in a replica of Taiwan's famous night markets. Click here for more...

Cyprus

Circling back towards Europe, come visit the eastern Mediterranean, where Turkish and Greek influences have been adapted with Cypriot flare. Have a gyro, some falafel, souvla, or snack on halloumi with fig jam. You simply must try the unique soujoukos, and take some Turkish Delight to go. Click here for more...

Netherlands

Finally, we end our trip back in Europe, in the Netherlands. Have dessert with the Dutch! Try speculaas, olliebollen, stoopwaffel, and poffertjes. Of course you want some Dutch apple pie. Tasty treats to round out an engaging and satisfying trip around the world. Click here for more...

***

Thanks for visiting our food festival, and on behalf of Mrs. Well Named and myself, we wish you many scrumptious future feasts!

filthyvermin:


No writeup provided.

kokiri:


Japan (Round 1)
Malaysia (Round 7)
Bangladesh (Round 5)
Syria (Round 8)
Greece (Round 2)
Belgium (Round 3)
Denmark (Round 6)
United Kingdom (Round 4)


My food festival charts a route across Eurasia, mapping one of the key axes in thousands of years of mankind. Ancient land routes were replaced by the European shipping companies headed to the spice islands and then the early modern empires – these connections have shaped the development of human society – its food as much as anything. So each of these picks are in dialogue with one another – Malaysian food draws on its heritage as a British colony, and its ethnic mix from across Asia; Bangladesh has shaped British food culture, sending dishes, spices and chefs westward.

In addition, we’ll have a mix of quote unquote traditional foods – for example Japanese dishes that can be traced back 100s of years or more – and cutting edge contemporary ideas such as molecular gastronomy in the UK, or Denmark, home to the weird-Scandinavian-foraged-berries-&-moss movement.

We’ve got great fish dishes from Greece, Britain, Japan. Bangladesh & Malaysia, Britain’s great tradition of deserts, European cheeses, signature Asian dishes, and places that represent sites of collision of multiple traditions meeting head one. We’ll have fun activities & foods for the kids, then in the evening we’ll break out some of the great alcohols of the world – great beers from Belgium and Britain, gin, rum, whisky, Ouzo (maybe not Retsina) and in addition to the full range of different Sakes, Shochu, Ume-shu and more from Japan.

The overall concept is going to be a silk road of taste, exploring the connections across history’s most influential landmass.

I’m not going to give a full write up for each country, but here is a brief intro to what each tent will bring to the table:

Japan: one of the world’s great food cultures – sashimi, tempura, shabu shabu, sukiyaki, Kobe beef, half a dozen types of noodles, the city with the most Michelin stars in the world, ramen, seasonal and regional variations and
Sample dish: Okonomiyaki


United Kingdom: long a standing joke for bad food, but it’s out of date and in anyway masks a series of great traditions – smoked salmon, cheeses out the wazoo, toad in the hole, fish & chips, fruit & vegetables largely unique to the islands, a range of singular desserts,
Sample dish: Rhubarb Crumble


Malaysia: a meeting point for different culinary traditions, displaying the sort of mix of flavours and dishes that marks out the diversity of south-east Asia.
Sample dish: fish head curry


Greece: the Eastern Mediterranean is home to a number of great and interrelated cuisines – a whole range of foods from set pieces like moussaka to any number of finger foods and small plates.
For me, the best of the lot is a simple salad of feta, tomato, cucumber, vinegar and olive oil.
Sample Dish: pork sausage fried with peppers


Bangladesh: representative of the Indian subcontinent, but strongly influenced by its low lying delta geography, another tradition that is rich in fish dishes. Bangladeshi chefs staff some 70%+ of British curry houses.



Syria: Another eastern Mediterranean cuisine full of great bread and an infinite number of meze, Syria is a collision of Christian, arab, Persian, Turkish traditions, a true silk road site that brings local foodstuffs together with diverse traditions, the region has been a melting pot almost as long as mankind has had cities. In a way it’s the heart of the festival, the midpoint around which the other tents revolve.
Sample dish: Lamb kebab, hummus & flatbread


Belgium: the best beer in the world? The best chocolate in the world? Mussels, frites, waffles. Nuff said.


Denmark: a reinvigorated northern European cuisine, featuring breads, smoked fish and meat, and home to the world’s greatest restaurant at the heart of a culinary movement based around seasonality and fresh local foodstuffs.
Sample dish: fried reindeer moss and mushrooms

iamnotawerewolf:


No writeup provided.

NotGonnaLie:


4 Days, 8 countries. It's impossible to capture more than a slice of what the world has to offer under the constraints of our food festival. To make the most of my picks I had a few goals in mind.

* Focus on excellence over breadth. Admitting its impossible to reflect every international cuisine, it was my goal to find unique and memorable food experiences to bring to my festival. I preferred countries that did a few things great over other that did many well.
* Try and provide as much coverage as possible. While I couldn't capture everything it was important that no two picks shared too much overlap in culinary tradition.
* Appeal to the masses. Food is a subjective experience. I tried to have my own preferences take a back seat to what I felt the general festival goer might be enticed by. A taste of the world should push people out of their comfort zone slightly, but it was my goal not to select country based on novelty alone.

I think I succeeded on each of these goals with my 8 selections:



8 shining examples of what each region brings to the table.

The highlight of my festival will be 4 luxurious dinners (refer to the color of your wristband for which day you'll enjoy each):

Italian Full Course Meal:


Korean BBQ:


Filipino Lechon:


Pakistani Feast:


It's impossible to capture all of the variety available from each country, but check out each individual write-up to whet your appetite on each country.

Italy
South Korea
Philippines
Pakistan
Poland
Colombia
Canada
Tanzania

And here are some ideas on which tent to head to depending on what you're looking for.

Breakfast:
* Flapjacks with Maple Syrup (CAN)
* Cappuccino with breakfast pastry (ITA)
* Tapsilog (PHI)


Mid-morning snack:
* Colombian coffee with salted lulo (COL)
* Nalesniki with berries (POL)
* Arroz Caldo (PHI)


Lunch:
* Bibimbap (KOR)
* Pizza Margherita (ITA)
* Ajiaco (COL)
* Urojo (TAN)


Late Afternoon Snack:
* Bigos (POL)
* Lamb Biryani (PAK)
* Ox-bone soup (KOR)


Bar Food:
* Adobo Chicken Wings (PHI)
* Poutine (CAN)
* Korean Fried Chikin (KOR)
* Nyama Choma (TAN)


Dessert:
* Gelato (ITA)
* Fried Plantain (TAN)
* Gulab Jamun (PAK)


Late Night:
* Pierogi (POL)
* Tteok-bokki (KOR)
* Timbits (CAN)
* Empanadas with aji (COL)

eyebooger:


Like your meats?
Paraguayan asado, Ethiopian gored gored, Spanish chorizo, Irish stew, Burmese curries, Persian and Georgian kebabs have you covered.



More of a vegetarian?
Burmese ginger salad and Persian dolma can get you started, but the real treat will be at the Ethiopian tent. Even this meat eater can’t resist the amazing blends of spice that they put in their non-meat dishes.



Boozing it up?
Georgia and Spain have the wine more than covered, and Ireland can provide the whiskey.


Hey, pope! What do you think?

Bloobird:


No writeup provided.

This thread is now open for debate.

I haven't yet set a deadline for voting, but let's aim to get it done sooner rather than later.

om nom nom nom nom

I have cast a vote.

Will vote tonight

I felt like the results were pretty close, and most people's drafts had both high points and one or two weak points. Except filthy who was disqualified for drafting USA in the first round :P

apologies for the lack of writeup, have been crazy busy

will get my vote in shortly

voted

Will send in a ranking tonight.

Gad's line up of: Singapore, Vietnam, Brazil, Croatia, Senegal, Oman is sorely missed. (Vietnam and ldo Brazil particularly.)

I propose finishing it with: Madagascar and Finland.

(The last choice for this line up is between somewhere in central Asia and somewhere in the Baltic, given no specific further African ideas. Non-homer non-selection of Latvia-goat. )

Agree someone should have finished Gad's draft. I thought about it, but never had time.

dammnit OP map colouration, snarl ... hmmm-mebbe think about this some more ...

Oops. Missed that one somehow. Hope it's the only one.

mkay, this is well into discussion, but - keeping Finland at Gad#8 - some candidates for Gad#7 are: Guatemala, Mauritius and Papua New Guinea. (Haven't been there but I really can't fake loving Khazakh cuisine from the descriptions.)

I guess overall I'ld substitute like for like & go with Mauritius - I'm not really that into corn and although PNG probably has many more varieties of foodstuffs the diet and cooking maybe more limited. + tho' the variety is a little less than Magadascar, you get more Frenchification.

fwiw, if it was an independent country I would have drafted Guadaloupe in the (2nd half of the) first round ... but it isn't .. so whoever has France has that as well.

Bump

Let's get them votes in, please.

Bumpo?

Only half the players have submitted ballots.