Aah, The
Good Food and Wine Show; the one time in the year where I unashamedly morph
into a chef-groupie and food paparazzi extraordinaire. With my camera in hand,
and an appetite as big as my excitement, I made my way to the inviting lights
of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). I could almost taste
the excitement in the air.
As I
entered the all-too-familiar arena of gastronomy, I craned my neck to see if I
could catch a glimpse of Buddy Valastro, the Cake-boss. Maybe not my favourite
food-personality, but heck, that man can make impressive cakes! I was as giddy
as a kid on the last day of school; just to be plummeted back to earth with
major disappointment and a headache as souvenir.
I have
decided to re-name The Good Food and Wine
Show to The Wine Show. The
once-utopia for food lovers has diminished under an alcohol haze of wine and
tequila stalls. With every second step you are bombarded with shots of Vodka
and bubblegum-flavoured Tequila?! Even a driving-miss-Daisy look-alike shooed
me out of the way to get another fill of her poison.
I have to
admit that at some point I thought they might have slipped me some Absinthe,
for I started seeing hallucinations of cell phone-stores and footgear. Surely,
these items do not belong at a food and wine convention?! I was wrong…
Luckily,
there were a few items of interest that salvaged (kind of) the evening for me.
Inventive and creative cooking utensils and accessories, as well as beautiful
and skilfully crafted knives boosted my faith in the event.
I was
also happy to see the advent of local food heroes to the ranks: producers of
cured meats; frozen yoghurts and confectionary, who were all eager for you to
try their fare.
After
three hours of wine-tasting, browsing, oh, and did I mention wine-tasting?, we
left the bright lights of the Convention Centre with deflated moods and
tummies. It seemed that I was destined for toasted ham and cheese sarnies for
dinner, and an Aspirin or two…
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