BBC Good Food Show London
Thursday, 3 January 2013
So lots to report from my 3 months working at the BBC Good
Food Show, since starting in October we’ve had 3wonderful shows: Scotland, London and
Winter (at the NEC.) My job at the shows is to make sure that everything is
going smoothly for our exhibitors, helping them out with any questions they may have and generally helping out where a pair of hands are needed. Luckily wandering around talking about food
all day is no chore for me so I really enjoyed myself!
First one I worked for was London (9th- 11th
November) at the Olympia in Kensington. Here’s my highlights:
I have to say there were some ridiculously tasty products at
the London show. Sniffing around for some amazing cheese as I always do, and
inspired by my colleague Katy Truss’s blog post on this particular little number-
I scouted out the infamous Belper Knoll. A cheese like no other. The most
expensive cheese I have ever bought and worth every penny.
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Small grey lump of Belper Knoll. Drooool. |
On Swiss cheese producers, Jumi's stand stood the weirdest
looking knobbly lump of grey, I was instantly intrigued. After tasting a thin
sliver shaved into my hand, I was in love. Belper knoll has a peppery outer
crust and a delicious melt in the mouth, salty and garlicky centre. The texture
is like no other cheese I have ever tried. It’s hard like parmesan but without the
waxiness, its feather light and wonderful but packs a powerful punch of
flavour. Just definitely try it OK.
I was a huge fan of Maha Fresh Chutney, one of our bursary
winners. The coriander and mint was really something special. Serving with
poppadum’s before a curry was a total winner for the fam.
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Cheese on Toast popcorn- Whaaaaa?! |
I’d heard a lot about Joe and Seph’s popcorn before coming
to the show and was very excited to try. When I was a teenager I worked in our
local cinema for about 3 years. It was an ace job, asides from shouting “ICE
CREAMS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN” at the top of my voice, and shooting tickets out
of this old fashioned ticket reel machine, I got to eat as much popcorn as I
wanted. Fresh popcorn. Popcorn from a machine so old if it broke you’d have to
throw it away because they didn’t make the parts anymore. Rustic.
Anywho this
experience has given me a lifelong popcorn addiction and made me quite
discerning when it comes to the stuff. Joe and Seph’s certainly delivered. It
was genius, the caramel, chilli and pepper was amazing, hitting you with all
three flavours in a clearly separated sequence. Just incredible.
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HOT HOT n'duja |
Oh and I almost forgot, I discovered Nduja for the first
time, a fiery Italian spreadable sausage from Calibria, it’s an extremely
versatile ingredient and I love it, despite my trouble in pronouncing it! Try
in on pizza, pasta, pies and just spread on bread or as a dip.
3 fine days of wonderful producers and foody funtimes at our fantastic food show. Loving my job!
The Winter show was bloody brilliant too. But you’ll have to
wait a little longer for my news on that one. Despite the Winter break I’ve not
yet got round to writing it up! Watch this space.
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Carved Pumpkin Fish with eyebrows at the Kensington Palace Restaurant experience. |
edit
Nice blog.
ReplyDeleteThe whole experience sounds great - but reading about it makes me hungry just before lunch!
Glad to see you liked 'nduja. Not many people have heard about it but it's a great product and you're right, as an ingredient it's got so many uses.
It's not that common, but we (unearthed) do a Calabrian 'Nduja which you can get in Waitrose or Ocado.
** Our top tip ** - add to your mince mixture to create a spicy burger. Yum. Definitely off for lunch now!
Susie
I've heard that the Waitrose 'nduja is a second rate factory made product and that a much better product can be bought from http://www.calabriataste.com/.
DeleteThanks Susie,
ReplyDeleteI love how creative people are getting with Nduja, there seems to be a thousand possibilities, it's fab! I'm gonna have to make me one of those super spicey Nduja burgers, thanks for the tip!