The Psychedelic Cow: 2015

Apologies for the terribly late blog, but it has been totally manic. Also, this will be the last blog on this page. My wonderful husband has bought me http://www.psychedeliccow.com/ so we will be moving there, right after this post.

So, on Blogger one last time....here we go: GOOD FOOD AND WINE 2015

The Good Food & Wine Show 2015 at CTICC has been and gone in what seems a flash. After all that excitement and anticipation, it is now just a wonderful memory of wine, shows, some seriously good food and a dream coming true.

There is so much from my two days at the show, that I barely know where to begin!

FRIDAY

Early on Friday morning (cause every good food blogger takes leave for this show) my eyes whipped open and I shouted "today is the day"....at which point my husband suggested that 4am was far to early for that nonsense, and I was to be excited after 7am and at least him having had his first cup of coffee!

At a more reasonable hour and after a light breakfast (you need to keep room for all those yummy tastings of course) with Media pass in hand, we hit the road.

This is year 2 of PR company, Wired Communications managing the show and I was interested to see what changes they had made from last year.

My husband is a rugby blogger and doesn't like crowds,is allergic to slow service and stupidity, but loves food and cooking. So every year he comes with me as my sacrificial lamb to test out all of the above!

As Saturday was going to be my "seeing shows day" we spent the day tasting EVERYTHING. I have to admit that at a few places we tried everything more than once, a few times (Stellenbosch Vineyards - Arniston Bay wine based Infusions.... I promise to make up the quantity we drank of your product in the form of a visit, a blog and a large purchase)

My highlights of Friday were:

Jaydex Wines, with their very well rounded wines and awesome contribution to saving the Rhino. They have a red and white wine in their range, that R10 of each sale goes towards Rhino conservation.

http://www.jaydexdistribution.com/

Minnies, who do the best Prego sauce I have ever tasted. They convinced Mr.Moo to try their hottest sauce, which caused much laughter. But seriously, this is a brand you need to grab when it gets to your area.

Stellenbosch Vinyards have a wine infusion product that completely blew me away. Light, bubbly, sweet but too sweet... the Arniston Bay Wine Infusions range completely swept me off my feet. With 4 fruity flavors in the range, this is a total winner. I have already made plans to drive out to Stellenbosch and go buy a box (they do mixed boxes)

This was probably my favorite drink at the show. I give it a 10/10

Oh, and we can't forget the other 2 great drinks of the show, Fireball No6, a spiced liquor. We tried it straight and mixed half and half with Magnum Cream.... OMGEEEE! Off the wall crazy good.

Then there was the new addition to the Disaronno range, the new Disaronno Sour Mix. Refreshing and tasty. This is going to be crazy hot for parties this coming summer.

We rolled out of the show on Friday afternoon, very content and full, requiring the mandatory nap, the minute we got home!

SATURDAY

But then arrived the day I had been waiting for. Saturday, the day that I would see The Cake Boss himself.

Excitement was in the air. Every year my dear friend Kyla joins me for a day at GF&W. It's our annual food frenzy day, where we get to slip into food coma's at the end, after testing, tasting, trying and discussing everything food as well as learning from some of the great Chef's out there. This year she was away in Hermarnus...and drove in for the day. We don't mess around.

And we weren't disappointed. Honestly it was a total highlight of Saturdays visit to the show, to watch both the Matt Preston and Buddy Valastro on stage.

Kyla, and I are massive Buddy Valastro fans and our goal, was to see him in one of the workshops he was presenting. Little did we realise that the food gods were shining crazy luck down onto us. We ended up sitting to the side of the stage which initially was a bit of an awwwww moment. This changed when we realised that we were on the end of the row...and RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE HE WOULD COME OUT AND WALK PAST!!!.

It only got better when, after the show, Buddy walked right past us, stopped as he happened to catch my eye, and stuck out his hand to me saying "thanks so much for coming" ... Day MADE!!!!!

A huge thank you also to MC for the show, Mark Palmer, who saw my hand up to ask Buddy a question....and made it happen. Yip, I got to actually speak to him.

I have included the video below. Even in my giddy state of excitement, I managed to time it right, and get it on split screen.

The question I asked was regarding the rumors of a Carlo's Bakery opening in South Africa.... and where in SA!

Matt Preston was also phenomenal to watch. He is charming, charismatic and super friendly and very funny. He made "Hot ice-cream bread with frozen salted butter"...yes, really. Again, thanks Mark Palmer for making sure I got to ask Matt my question.

Matt Preston, Mark Palmer, Buddy Valastro..... the only person I missed (to my great sadness) was Siba. I would give an arm and a leg to get to watch her cook (maybe the food gods can arrange a meeting!

! ate my way through the show, from wonderful wines, to shooters, the best macaroons I’ve ever had and tried all sorts of Banting things. We tried the best sauces, ate chocolate and tasted the most amazing Black truffle products that changed my life. Hot caramel nuts and Tunisian chick pea roties, oil, olives and wonderful gluten free noodles…. I get quite giddy thinking about it all. I was there for 2 of the 4 days, and loved every minute. I was happy to see my favorite macaroon bakery at the show. The moment I put one in my mouth I know who the trader was...

My thoughts on the GF&WS: I thought 2015 show was better than 2014, from the wine layout perspective at least. Last year the wine route was a cramped section at the back. This year it was back to the old layout. It also felt like more space was given to stand, giving a much more airy feeling and far less cramped. I do think that there were too many stalls (like Arial and the mops) that didn’t fit. Also, I think there should have been more variety on some things like cheeses. Also, one thing we really enjoyed last year that was missing, was the Lion (I think) theater for new products. That was so cool to sit and see what new small business ventures were out there doing interesting products, like the elderly couple who were making authentic clotted cream.

I loved the media lounge, which was a haven for sore feet to sit a while, grab a drink and just breeeath. What would have been super useful though, which was missing, was a charging point. Being a blogger the one thing that a show like this drains (other than my wallet mehehehee) is my phone battery. It would have been fantastic to know I could sit for a bit, stick my phone on charge and then hit the show again.(a massage would be nice too, but I suspect that may be pushing it lol)

As a blogger with a media pass, the show is a gastronomical smorgasbord of adventure, and the media pass does mean that vendors are happy to let you try things and chat longer as they know they are getting potential exposure. But that’s just my perspective. So I thought, let’s send some people in and get their opinions to give a well rounded picture of the event.

CAITLIN LAIRD (attended on Thursday) of Utter Bliss Bakery

Owner of Utterbliss, a privately run bakery based in Kirstenhof, CT. specialising in all baked goods from cakes, cupcakes and brownies to iced biscuits, tarts and fudge.

When you go to shows like GF&W, what do you generally go to look at?
New and exciting products, ingredients, utensils and equipment, as well as to see the celebrity chef demonstrations.

As a food industry professional, what did you a) find positive and b) find negative about the show
a) I found it very well run and organised. They had a fantastic selection of wines! I saw Alfred Henrys dem and loved the fact that we got to taste what he had made after as well as a wine he had paired it with. (Pity I didn't get to see "The Cake Boss" as he didn't do any shows on the Thursday)

b) Not much variety of food stalls to eat at and a lot of them had similar things. I wasn't struck by any novel, new products, most of them I have seen already at food markets, shops, etc.

What would you like to see more of/different/removed at the 2016 show

I would like to see more stalls with innovative products, maybe like a quirky kitchen section with cool and different kitchen utensils etc. And it would also be nice to have a bigger recipe book/magazine section with more of a variety.

Overall impression of the 2015 GF&W show

My overall impression was that the show was run very well and efficiently. Found it well set out inside and quite spacious.

I was so pleased to come across the Bamix stand, watched the demo and purchased my very own Swiss made Bamix. Another highlight, was finding a stand that sold chocolate coated coffee beans, something I’ve found very difficult to source. The best thing I got to sample were the Winston and Julia chocolate. I tasted the nutty nougat, fig, and toffee and honeycomb. They are absolutely delicious! My favourite wine I tasted was the Creation Viognier.

Ashleigh Badham-Thornhill (attended on the Sunday)

Chef Consultant and part-time Caterer. I work with food in various ways, but mainly in Food Media and print, ranging from consulting on recipe books and food and wine pairings to recipe development for well-known food brands.

When you go to shows like GF&W, what do you generally go to look at?

I try to go as often as possible, as it is important for me to see what is out there and stay inspired J

As a food industry professional, what did you a) find positive and b) negative about the show?

a) It is great to see so many new and exciting products and how there is a clear movement to locally produced, natural, unprocessed foods. b) The immense crowds can be a bit overwhelming, especially when you just want to experience the food. I also find that random stalls bought by bigger companies, eg. Ariel Washing Powder, are totally unnecessary and unrelated to the food industry.

What would you like to see more of/different/removed at the 2016 show

As mentioned above the irrelevant stalls are a bit frustrating. I’d like to see more, smaller, local producers – big events like these should be showcasing the small businesses more, ‘The Gems of CT’.

Overall impression of the 2015 GF&W show

It was a lovely experience, and although I didn’t get a chance to see any shows, it was nice to see so much support from the Cape Town community (the convention centre was packed J). We tasted great new products, heard from local producers and feasted on flavour explosions (like the most delicious Shwarma from a Tunisian stand). And although I am not extremely moved by the banting movement – it is clear that many people are, with a huge section on just banting goods, I was impressed with the creativity and innovation.

Annalene Smit (Attended on the Sunday)

Admin and Marketing for start-up companies

When you go to shows like GF&W, what do you generally go to look at?

Usually wines and cheeses

As a NON food industry professional, what did you a) find positive and b) negative about the show?

a) New vendors b) the staff was very unhelpful and border line rude. Also, only one cheese stand.

What would you like to see more of/different/removed at the 2016 show

The lay out was better in 2014. Also a lot of vendors were VERY expensive.

Overall impression of the 2015 GF&W show

Overall I felt the standard had dropped from previous year. Last year we tasted various goodies and this year it seemed very limited.

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Here are a mass amount of photos from the Friday and Saturday at the show, Enjoy.