Good Food and Wine Show | Good Food and Wine Show Cape Town

This year I attended the Good Food and Wine Show and it was quite an experience! I could only go on the Sunday and found parking outside on the street (sometimes I find the CTICC parking so big that you end up walking further than if you just park on the street). I was pleased to attend the show as I’m a huge Master Chef Australia fan and was really looking forward to seeing formidable food critic and cook, Matt Preston.

Boring Cape Town Chick IMG_1170

We were helped by really lovely ladies at the media table and entered the show. Glasses were on sale for R30 but I didn’t bother as I just had the chef’s theatre in mind! The show was absolutely pumping, which was great, however, it is a little bit nuts. People love to walk without looking where they’re going. Luckily I’m quite tall but if you were short, you would have pumped heads with ton of people!

There were a lot of interesting stores and new product launches which I really liked. I tasted some of the new deep dish Dr Oetker and then went to the Pick n Pay (after the show), bought one and had it for dinner! Goes to show how far a simple taster can go! (PS: the pizza was better at the show – it was crunchy on the outside but sloppy on the inside. Sloppy pizza always creeps me out, but I’d definitely try it again and try to rectify that.)

There were also a number of demonstrations on, which people enjoyed watching.

We also found the Giggling Gourmet, Jenny Morris, whose stand was pulling a large crowd due to the music blaring, audience participation and general fun going down.

I tried to take beautiful looking images, however, the nature of the event is pretty chaotic. With people grabbing food and trying to see, the poor stalls have to bust a gut to keep up with it all and that was often reflected in the pictures. We tried to capture as many interesting stalls as possible:

However, there were a few stands who kept their wares in order and it made all the difference to the overall presentation and, for me, confidence in the brand.

While making our way to the Chef’s Theatre, we found TLC auditioning for a new presenter. Not that I’d get it in a million years, but since I’ve done radio presenting, I figured it was fun to give it a bash. And it was fun! SUPER fun!

Ironically Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss, was just wrapping up his presentation at the Chef’s Theatre and we could see him on the television screens.

After taking a look around we found Matt Preston signing his book at the Chef’s Theatre. It was wonderful to see him in real life and I was thrilled, when we entered the presentation, to receive his book for free (as a media guest). He showed the audience a simple food plating style, recipe demonstration as well as talking to us about local produce:

He sent examples of local ingredients around the audience, welcoming questions at any time.

I eventually asked him how one becomes a great food critic without having to be a great chef. He answered me individually, which I appreciated, while including the entire audience. I was impressed with his ability to be personable yet professional.

He also welcomed up a member of the audience to do a tasting:

We thoroughly enjoyed Matt’s presentation. He made a point of making rugby jokes and trying to integrate his lifestyle with our culture – I appreciate that. After the show we stood in line to get our books autographed. He even let me take a selfie with him!

Matt Preston was a very kind celebrity who made every effort to connect with us and make us feel welcome. As if I wasn’t a fan already, I’m even more so now! That really was the highlight of the show for me. AND he loves Lefty’s waffles! What a legend!

We decided to do one last turn and found a man selling really interesting toffees. He’s breaking into the Cape Town market now and I hope we welcome him has his toffees (although we’ve seen the packaging before) are delicious.

Overall the Good Food and Wine Show was a wonderful experience. I highly recommend going to the Chef’s Theatre so that you can see wonderful celebrity chefs, take a seat and get away from the general exhibition madness. It settled down a lot by 3pm on Sunday and that made it easier to see what was going on.