You can feel the tingling in your tongue as you walk the doors of Camden Hot Sauce Festival. There’s a pleasant hum, guests having cocktails in candlelit tables, a best sauce competition, and a 666 challenge: 6 wings in 6 minutes and an extra 6 minutes without a sip.
Table’s ready – a plate of flaming hot wings, plastic decorative habaneros to remind you what you’ve got yourself into, and a display of scorching sauces. Seating on the throne, ready to take the challenge: Reet Rachwani and Ryan Ward.
“It was very, very, very spicy,” says Ward, 21, a software engineer, when he finishes eating his six wings. Still red in the face and sweating, he sports a free lip plump from the heat.
Rachwani and Ward finished their spicy wings/corn ribs on time - no drinks allowed. Photo by Sara Valle
His girlfriend, Rachwani, 20, doesn’t agree. “It wasn’t like spicy hot; it was more the temperature of the food and the quantity,” says Reet, who works in fashion marketing. She swapped the wings for the vegan option – corn ribs doused in heaps of spicy sauce.
“You know when you take a bite of something and it’s too hot and you sort of breathe in and out? It stops you from chewing the food. The spices are going through my mouth,” says Ward. “I’m glad I didn’t cry.”
Spicing Up Camden: A Culinary Adventure at Camden Hot Sauce Festival
Hazel Waite, the Events and Marketing Executive behind the festival, won’t reveal the secret recipe, but she jokes the concoction is “mean” and “10/5 spicy”. She’s organised the first ever Camden Hot Sauce Festival in The Farrier, nestled in one of the many nooks and crannies of Camden Market.
“We wanted to create an event that would really engage with our local community and be inclusive,” she says. “Hot sauces are popular all over the world with influences from many cultures and have become a commonplace condiment on restaurant and household tables alike.”
The display of sauces was inviting and intimidating alike. Photo by Sara Valle
A sea of hot sauce aficionados, each armed with a wooden stirrer and the sole rule of not double dipping, wait to conquer the spice spectrum. Some entries are professionals; others are amateurs that have repurposed coffee jars, food containers, and what looks like a fuel plastic can to bring their piquant creations.
Heat, Humour, and Habaneros
Habanero, blueberries, mustard, pineapple, Scotch Bonnet, honey, and even pickles. There’s a sauce for every taste. Some look innocently innocuous, like your grandma’s homemade spaghetti sauce, but others make one scan the room for milk.
“Why hot sauce? Because it’s part of me; it’s part of my culture,” says Harsh Modasia, 32, the owner of Raja Bonnet Sauce. He’s wearing a red suit that resembles the iconic yellow hazmat suits Walter White and Jesse Pinkman wore in Breaking Bad.
Harsh Modasia at the Camden Hot Sauce Festival. Photo by Sara Valle
Modasia says he’s here to win. The homemade sauces he’s entered to the competition are a blend of Scotch Bonnet, Kesar Mango, and Gujarati spices to represent his Indian origin, via East Africa, and South London soul.
“When I was a young kid, I used to go to the cupboard and eat all the hot sauce all the time. It runs through my genes,” says Modasia, who’s also the owner of plant-based Indian fusion chain En Root, with four restaurants across London.
There’s another nod to pop culture in the gooey-looking sauce in the corner with Rick and Morty’s Pickle Rick mischievously smiling on the glass container, nibbles and classic dishes like hot wings, as well as lots of sauce-infused cocktails to clench your thirst – from a spicy margarita to chilli and bacon vodka shots.
Nods to pop culture in the names and presentation of the sauces. Photo by Sara Valle
The crowd plays beer pong with blue and red solo cups and a shot roulette with a rogue shot of spicy vodka that would make anyone squirm. The ambience in The Farrier’s fiery fiesta is relaxed and friendly. Chilli-heads and amateur sauce-makers are welcome.
From Vegan Delights to Fermented Fiery Blends: The Diverse World of Hot Sauce Culture
Others take the challenge, beers come and go, and the music never stops while more and more curious Londoners wander through the doors to try the blazing blends with quirky names that make one simultaneously chuckle and sweat.
But Bhavesh Patel, 52, is not your regular Londoner. In fact, he comes from Miami. “I started making hot sauces for fun and I thought it’d be a great time to enter, see how it does, and get some public opinion,” says the chef.
His “Hella Hot Sauce” attracts everyone’s attention. Someone says it’s their favourite as they go for a second wooden stirrer for another dip. “Red finger chillies, red habanero peppers, rice vinegar, garlic, and some sugar fermented for two weeks. That’s it,” says Patel.
Hella Hot Sauce, one of the winners of the night. Photo by Sara Valle
When time comes and the competition ends, they announce the winner – it’s a tie. Vegan umami buffalo I’m So Buff by Baked Birds and “sweet and then fiery hot” Hella Hot Sauce take the quake (in someone’s mouth, that is).
Bhavesh and his team share the tiny golden plastic trophy with Baked Bird for a snap. That’s the prize, knowing yours is the best hot sauce in Camden.
As others head for the tube, Bhavesh and Baked Bird linger to celebrate. Outside, Amy Winehouse’s statue guards Camden Hot Sauce Festival’s doors until next year.
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