As part of this year’s World Curry Festival, Canberra will again be hosting a fiery Chilli Eating Competition on both Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July, to determine who in Canberra can handle the most Scovilles!

Think you can handle the heat? Sadly it’s too late to register now as entries have closed. But you should still come along and watch brave men and women chomp through jalapenos (about 2,500 Scoville heat units), serano peppers, Thai red chillies, habañeros, ghost chillies, Thai green chillies, Trinidad Scorpions, and finally, for the chilli-chomping legends, several Carolina Reapers, known as one of the world’s hottest chilli, with a Scoville score of around 2,200,000 (which is close to standard pepper spray). Last year two blokes made it through four Carolina Reapers each before judges declared them equal winners.

Last year’s comp was very entertaining and made the Canberra TV news! ABC reporter Siobhan Heanu certainly seemed to enjoy the sight of grown women and men breaking into a sweat in the middle of a Canberra winter.

If you have no idea about your Scoville resilience, try the dish below at the Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant on Alinga Street. If you or your friends can finish it and want more – you’re probably ready for next year’s competition. If you’re not sure you can handle the Scovilles then bring along plenty of milk or yoghurt. But remember, if contestants in the chilli-eating competition take a sip of milk, pass out, or called an ambulance, they will be disqualified.

Had to share a photo of this beautiful fish dish @ Red #Chilli #Sichuan Restaurant #Canberra #TasteCanberra #VisitCanberra #nofilter #yesthereisfishunderallthatchilli ? A post shared by Elias (@elias_hallaj) on Aug 3, 2015 at 4:21am PDT

There is more information about the Chilli Eating Comp on the Facebook Page, including strict rules about disqualification.

The Chilli Eating Competition is just one small part of the Canberra World Curry Festival. The festival was created in 2015 out of love of food, culture and community. It’s a unique event that’s quite simply ‘a celebration of all things curry’. Foodies from far and wide come to experience the authentic tastes of Asia, Europe and Africa in the heart of Canberra’s City Centre. Vendors from all over will be gathering in the heart of the city to showcase their dishes, with over 30 stalls bringing flavours from India, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Philippines and more.

The festival will also include traditional Indian dances, entertainment as well as Canberra’s hottest Chilli Eating Competition. The World Curry Festival runs from the 7th to the 9th of July, with stalls open between 11am and 8pm each day. This free event will be located along City Walk and is family friendly.

There is a huge list of stall holders compared to previous years, including some of my favourites, like Bentspoke Beer, who will be making a special curried beer and spiced cider for this year’s festival!

And will Canberra dessert maestro Mr Frugii create another curry-flavoured sweet sensation to celebrate the festival? only time will tell.

Essential details:

WHAT: Canberra World Curry Festival

WHERE: City Walk, Canberra

WHEN: from July 7th to 9th (11am – 8pm each day)

In the case of bad weather the event may be postponed, please click attending on the Facebook event for all the latest event updates.

Elias Hallaj (aka CBRfoodie) is a part-time food blogger and full-time political staffer who has joined RiotACT as a regular contributor. All his opinions about Canberra chilli eating are his own. Don’t worry he is trying to cut back on eating too much chilli at night as it gives him heart burn, but insists it’s just too damned tasty. If you have any tips or feedback or advice about chilli or curry you can add a comment below or find him most nights on Twitter @CBRfoodie.