A forgotten vegetable once viewed as peasant or livestock food is enjoying an unlikely comeback in Somerset, England, as a festival in its honor takes place this weekend. More than 100 people across seven villages between Glastonbury and Bridgwater are now growing mangelwurzels, a bright red root crop that is a cross between beetroot, sugar beet, and chard.
The Great Polden Hills Mangelwurzel Day will feature vegetables judged in categories such as 'Biggest Girth,' 'Best Looking Legs,' and 'Most like Donald Trump.' Event founder Beverley Finnegan stated, "What started as a challenge between friends to grow the biggest mangelwurzel has, eight months later, become a festival with hundreds of locals involved."
Finnegan, who lives in Chilton Polden, decided to try growing mangelwurzels after spotting seeds online, and word quickly spread to her neighbors. She now has 190 members signed up to a dedicated Facebook page for the vegetable. The inaugural Mangelwurzel Day at Edington Village Hall will also include a performance by Glastonbury folklore band Savage Sisters, who have written a song about the vegetable. Attendees can also participate in mangelwurzel hurling and enjoy food and drinks made from the root and its leaves.
Sam Charlesworth, chair of the village hall, described the festival as having "grown its own legs and roots and leaves and gone very bonkers." He added, "It's been six months in the making and turned into this beast. I'm incredibly proud of it because it's taken that community spirit that we all love and has really grown. We celebrate Somerset."
Proceeds from The Great Polden Hills Mangelwurzel Day will benefit the village hall and Seed of Hope, a not-for-profit organization that aids individuals with mental health challenges through therapeutic gardening.
The mangelwurzel's resurgence extends beyond local enthusiasm. It was featured in the Great Pavilion at this year's Chelsea Flower Show after gaining traction on social media. A mangelwurzel was also notably used in a 2025 advertising campaign featuring actor Timothée Chalamet.
Both Finnegan and Charlesworth hope the festival will become an annual event. Regarding the possibility of supermarkets stocking mangelwurzels, Finnegan expressed reservations, noting, "It's a bit confronting as a vegetable and it does grow to be really huge. I'm not sure it would ever be really popular, I'm quite happy for it to remain a niche thing."
The mangelwurzel is a large root vegetable related to beetroot, sugar beet, and chard, historically cultivated for both human and livestock consumption. It is known for its unusual shapes and potential to reach considerable sizes, first developed in the 18th century as a high-yield fodder crop. The vegetable is hardy, capable of thriving in the British climate and storing for months after harvest, and was once an important crop during times of food scarcity. Both its roots and leafy tops are edible. The mangelwurzel has strong ties to Somerset culture, inspiring the name of the West Country folk band The Wurzels. Hollowed-out mangelwurzels are traditionally carved with faces and carried during Punkie Night celebrations in Hinton St George, and the vegetable is also associated with traditional West Country events like mangelwurzel hurling.
