Anyone who knows me will tell you that, generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of exhibitions. The noise, the crowds, the jostling and bumping usually end up with me getting just a tiny bit irritable and needing to smoke countless cigarettes in a row to overcome my aggravation at the end of the event.
However, the one thing that I will brave this dislike for is food, and it was with a rather joyous heart that I attended this year’s Melbourne Good Food & Wine show, with the hope of having a lovely day out like I did last year.
Having attended the event last year and experienced the early queuing, this year I made sure to get there as early as possible and arrived an hour before the event started.
And was gobsmacked at the complete lack of parking and the queue that had already begun to form.
In fact, just before the doors opened, I turned around to observe the line and it had become about 5-6 people wide and stretched on for beyond 100 metres.
That is a lot of people who are eager to get their food and drink on!
I was quite glad to see a few familiar faces from the store holders and had a bit of a chat with them about how they were finding this year’s show, thankfully the show arrived just in time for me to stock up on some of the goods that I’d rather low on over the past year so I spoke particularly to some of the smaller stalls about their stockists and where I could find their produce just in case I ran out before the show came around again next year.
I did notice one fairly large difference between last year and this year, and that was mainly the fairly big increase in stall holders spruiking really average supermarket products, and I wasted no time on these stalls. In all honesty, I was at the show to experience things that I hadn’t seen or tasted before…and while I’ve never actually tasted cooked chicken in a can, I have absolutely no intention of ever handing over my money for this sort of thing.
There was also a drastic reduction in stallholders with things like deli smallgoods (pickles, antipastos, cured meats etc) and I was quite sorry about the very small number of cheese stalls there, especially when the booze corral was so large and with so many different wines to taste, the cheeses were sorely missed.
Despite all this, there were still plenty of goods to take a gander at and taste, and my friend and I left at the end of the day with our wallets considerably lighter and the car bearing the burden of our purchases.
And of course, the absolute highlight of the day was being able to watch the incredibly handsome and adorable Manu Feildel perform some of the circus tricks learnt in his youth…as well as do a little cooking onstage (some of which involved audience members being asked to feel how hard his sausage was!)
(Yes, this is indeed a picture of my best friend Vee receiving a kiss and a cuddle from Manu, backstage in the green room – jealous much?)
In an incredible spot of luck/fate/good karma, I was allowed the chance to conduct a very short 5 minute interview with Manu himself, which will be posted on the blog as soon as I figure out HOW to transfer it from my digital recorder to my PC…
But till then, here’s a teaser fact. When it comes to underwear, Manu proudly declares himself as a boxers man, with much disdain for briefs. Oh la la! (and no, I did not ask this question for myself but on behalf of someone else!)
While the Good Food & Wine Show has run it’s course in Melbourne, it’s now Sydney’s turn to experience this fantastic event! The show will be running in Sydney from July 16th – July 18th 2010, so make sure you book your ticket and you too could have a lovely day out with a friend or two (just make sure that at least one of you stays sober to be the designated driver 
)
In all honesty, I think it’s even worth attending just for the chance to see celebrity chef Pete Evans pull this magical face:
Love ya work, Pete! Love it!
To find out more information about when the Good Food & Wine show will be in your neck of the woods, be sure to visit their website, and to see more of my photos from the event you can click here 
DISCLAIMER: Kitchen Wench attended this event as a guest of the Good Food & Wine Show
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, that is SUCH a cute photo of your friend with Manu. I am insanely jealous that you got to go to this event. I hope you had fun!
Wei-Wei
I’ll be curious to see how Sydney’s even pans out. Not too sure if we’ll have the mob that you described waiting for the doors to open though. Only time will tell, I guess
Did you manage to score a photo with Manu, as your friend did?
I’m going to the Sydney event, can’t wait!!
Nice One!
Crap…I misspelt my own surname above. Brilliant.
I’ve been to every years show in Sydney. What I noticed was last year there was a lot less free samples and some had to be purchased at up to $5 for a tiny try. I thought the purpose was to showcase and get people trying the products? Still had heaps and heaps of fun, just try to go on Friday to avoid the mega weekend rush.
If only it was in Canberra!
@Wei-Wei – Thanks, we had a great time
@Simon @ the heart of food – Unfortunately not, she doesn’t know how to operate my camera
@Maria – I hope you have a great time
@Veronica Cybulski – LOL! You make me laugh xo
@InTolerantChef – I think you’re right, the were FAR less samples this year, just lots of deals for cheap sales.
@Fiona – Well, there’s always the Sydney show