Festival Nacional del Piracaldo

Held each August at the historic Ex Hotel site in San Antonio, a city roughly 20 kilometres from Asunción, the National Piracaldo Festival has grown into one of Paraguay's most distinctive food celebrations — recognised by the international food guide TasteAtlas as one of the world's featured gastronomic events for the month. The festival is built entirely around piracaldo, a traditional Paraguayan fish stew, and exists specifically to preserve San Antonio's fishing heritage.

More than 30 exhibitors from across Paraguay serve fish-based specialities throughout the day, while live music, cultural performances and cooking demonstrations run alongside the festival's signature event: a competition to crown the best piracaldo of the year. The event is deliberately family-friendly, with recreational spaces, artisan stalls, fresh fish sales and pets welcome throughout the grounds.

For a landlocked country whose food culture is often associated more with beef and cassava than seafood, the Piracaldo Festival offers a reminder of how significant Paraguay's rivers are to its regional food traditions — and a genuinely well-organised showcase of a dish that rarely gets attention outside the country itself.