History

• The event started in 1999, when Angeleno foodies Marc Moss and Scott Ahlberg planned an oddball potluck dinner party for a few friends. The assignment: each guest had to bring the most unusual dish he could find. That first dinner spawned an annual gathering, its invitees vying for the distinction of introducing the strangest foodstuff on the table.

Where and When

• From its origin as a single-night event, the festival has grown to span several get-togethers between Christmas and New Year's Day. Like a pop-up restaurant, the dinners take place in locations spread throughout the neighborhoods of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. The exact number of these single-meal events tends to vary from year to year.

What's Served

• Over the 10-year history of the Weird Food Festival, attendees have eagerly presented plates of peanut-butter-and-jellyfish sandwiches, musk-ox steaks, kangaroo jerky, various deep-fried sphincters, reproductive organ meats and silkworm pupae, among dozens of other eyebrow-raising culinary discoveries. One year, the group washed the feast down with goblets of pig's blood.

Considerations

• The name "Weird Food Festival" is somewhat misleading since the event's spirit is that of a private dining club as opposed to that of a destination festival. To gain invitation, one must approach one of the event's founders. Demonstrating extremely rare dinner-table chutzpah helps one's case.