The Hungry Tiger Festival roars into town this coming Saturday.

By Tatiana Kombo

On Saturday, August 11, Union Square will be home to the second annual Hungry Tiger Festival, a Somerville Arts Council event. From 6 to 10 p.m., the square will be transformed into a bustling and ethnically diverse market in which varied “gastronomic and cultural riches” will be on display.

Rachel Strutt, Program Manager at the Somerville Arts Council, notes that if Saturday’s event is “anything like last year, it will be a mobbed street party, complete with fire throwers, busking musicians, and first and foremost, food!”

The Hungry Tiger Festival is one of the many Somerville Arts Council’s summertime events showcasing the city’s multiculturalism, especially in terms of performing arts and gastronomy.

Inspired by colorful and festive night time markets that are common in the Far East, the festival will allow passersby to taste delicious food from countries such as Thailand and India, to soak in live music, and to mingle with local vendors.

Festival-goers will have the opportunity to walk into local restaurants to further nibble on international fare. Rachel Strutt notes that, in keeping with the Olympics mania, “There will be a Nose Olympics, in which festival goers will be invited to test their noses by smelling eight different spices and ingredients.” She explains that the challenge winners will be walking away with “a lifetime supply of fenugreek,” a plant of which the seeds are commonly encountered in Indian cuisine.