Good Food and Wine Show 2014

WORDS Lisa Johnston

There’s no doubting the popularity of the Good Food and Wine Show. By 10.30am on day three of the four-day show, which ran from 31 July to 3 August 2014, the crowds were thick as custard.

Under the surreal enclave of the Coca Cola Dome, exhibitors furiously peddled their wares, which ranged from the good – fine wines, succulent olives, artisanal sandwiches – to the fad – diet books, miracle cleaning apparatus and an array of gizmos to turn your vegetables into weird works of art.

There was also, rather unexpectedly, a healthy dose of horny on display. Firstly from the stalls where a natural energy drink, called Pussy, drew excited crowds who walked away with a six pack or two and an “I love Pussy” coaster. Then there was the Food Network’s Giggling Gourmet, Jenny Morris, who ran a series of lectures entitled Romancing the Stove, which looked at seductive combinations of libido-boosting ingredients.

Other well-known faces who graced the almost continuous Celebrity Chefs Theatre were Masterchef Australia judge Matt Preston; the Sweet Mandarin Sisters Lisa and Helen Tse; Cake Boss Buddy Valastro; Spice Prince Reza Mahammad; Food Network’s Siba Mtongana of Siba’s Table; SA Mastercheffinalists Seline & Leandri van der Wat and South Africa’s first Masterchef SAwinner Deena Naidoo.

Highlights of the show included a bartenders workshop where visitors could try their hand at an exotic cocktail under the guidance of a master mixologist; the extreme nutrition theatre where leaders in sports nutrition offered advice on the best food choices  for training; and an enormous rhino, which was baked and iced by Cake & Kitchen Boss Buddy Valastro, before being sliced and sold off to raise funds to save our beleaguered rhinos.

goodfoodandwineshow.co.za