Slideshow: The World's 8 Wackiest Food Festivals

America has its own fascination with bugs. North Carolina hosts the BugFest every year where people come out to learn about the world of bugs and chow down on some crunchy crawlers. The event is free with more than 100 exhibits and activities to enjoy, as well as the chance to chat with scientists. Local chefs create dishes with bugs at Café Insecta; last year's theme was ants.

Click here for the countries brave enough to eat insects without a chocolate coating.

Chase your nine-pound wheel of cheese down Cooper's Hill to win the Cheese Rolling competition in England. The event takes place yearly on the Spring Bank Holiday, which is the last Monday in May. Since 2013, however, there has been no management of the event due to safety concerns, so if you go, it's at your own risk.

Click here to discover the most disgusting cheese in the world.

Australia's "Melon Capital" of Chinchilla (no relation to the rodent whose fur gets turned into coats) puts on the Chinchilla Melon Festival biennially to honor their title. The event will take place from Feb. 16 to 19, with all sorts of watermelon games such as melon skiing (with melon rinds on your feet), melon-eating competitions, melon bungee jumping, and a melon ironman circuit competition.

For drink recipes that can be served in a watermelon half, click here.

The name says it all. This odd festival is dedicated to one delicious fungus: the mushroom. Home to the world's largest mushroom, Crystal Falls, Michigan, celebrates it with the Humongus Fungus Festival for three days every August. The event hosts a Fungus Fest Parade, fireworks display, various sports tournaments, and the festival's star attraction, the Humongous Pizza. At 10 feet wide, this pizza is the world's largest mushroom pizza.

For mushrooms you shouldn't eat, click here.

A huge tomato fight breaks out yearly in the town of Buñol in the Spanish province of Valencia. This annual spectacle takes place on the last Wednesday in August, and you'll definitely want to join in on the fun at least once. La Tomatina is considered the world's largest food fight. 

For the best paella in Spain, click here.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, there is a festival dedicated to carving radishes called Noche de Rábanos, or "Night of Radishes." During this event, detailed scenes are carved out of oversized radishes and then submitted into a contest. You'll see carvings of everything from saints to animals at this event, which takes place each year on Dec. 23.

For the 25 best restaurants in Mexico, click here.

Hawaiians love spam so much that there's a festival dedicated to the luncheon meat in Honolulu. Waikiki SPAM Jam is a street festival that has become a tradition in Hawaii, with live entertainment and some of the finest restaurants in Honolulu making Spam dishes in every way imaginable. The festival will take place at the end of April this year.

Click here for things you didn't know about SPAM.

For those willing to try any dish at least once, the Wildfoods Festival is an event you can't miss. On March 11, 2017, grub on some interesting menu options such as Maori hangi, scorpions, and fried pig ears in Hokitika, New Zealand. The festival will also include international, gourmet, and traditional dishes, but step out of your comfort zone and try a bug or two.

For the weirdest food festival dishes, click here.