Some we have heard of before: the matchmaking festival in the west of Ireland, and oil wrestling in Turkey. But what about goat tossing and baby jumping in Spain, Dirty Thursday in Germany and cow fighting in Switzerland?

If that isn't enough, cultural detective Daeschner travels to Portugal to sample the intriguing penis cakes of Amarante and the St George versus the Dragon festivals in Wallonia (Belgium) and Spain.

The issue of whether it is racist for white people to blacken up to play assistant to the white, present-giving bishop has just about been debated to death (particularly by expats).

He also applies this reasoned approach to the now defunct festival of goat tossing in Manganeses de la Polvorosa , Spain. Faced with foreign outrage at the mere idea of tossing a live animal from a tower, the Spanish government banned the event back in 2001.

Daeschner goes there and rather than tut-tutting like so many other outsiders, he finds out how the ban has affected the locals. For the record, I won't be rushing to the barricades to fight for the re-introduction of the curious tradition but it is very interesting to hear what the town's folk have to say.

Eurotripping takes up where Daeschner left off in his first book 'True Brits' and it is gratifying to see he has avoided obvious toilet humour. This is no mean feat given some of the festivals he visited are centred around bodily parts and and functions.

Perhaps you remember Antoine de Caunes and Jean-Paul Gaultier got great mileage (sorry, kilometres) from exposing the barmy side of Europe on Britain's Channel 4 in the 1980s?

The duo, with guest appearance by Lolo Ferrari ('the woman with the largest breasts in the world') presented a comical look at "weird, wacky, sexy, fun and colourful stories" from around Europe.

The central and overwhelming theme was a schoolboy preoccupation with nudity and sex. It was experimental stuff in the beginning but the joke soon wore off.

Daeschner's work is very different. Born in Colorado in 1970, he has a real affinity with his subject and this shines through in his book - it is map not only to some of the more interesting places on the Continent but also a window into the soul of that curious specimen - the European maintaining local traditions.

About the author: J. R. Daeschner was born in Denver, Colorado in 1970 and raised in Back-of-Beyond, USA as the son of a Marlboro Country rancher turned Methodist minister. He read International Relations at American University in Washington, after which he worked for the New York Times.

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