A little bit about the Food Show!!

I went to the Food Show!

This was the third time I've been; the first and second was with Calci, but because she was going skiing this year (and landing on rocks :P ) it was just me and Mama.

Basically the Food Show is an annual event where you fill up on free food. Auckland's one was held in the ASB Showground, all 3 halls filled with food stalls, gourmet food samples, discount products and various chef demonstrations.

From previous experience I know they hand out more food and give bigger discounts on the last day if you stay till the end ;)

Tickets were $24, and the trick to getting the most of the Food Show is to not eat beforehand, wear strategic clothing (stretch/ loose fitting cause you can't do the unbutton zip thing you would do at buffets :P ) and bring a bag to put all your free samples in.

Our fault that we started with alcohol on an empty stomach

This stuff was so good. You pretty much freeze the bag, shake it before serving and voila; happy guests.

Frozen wine.

There were so many different oils to try. There was a really nice garlic one I tried with bread, I thought it tasted better than garlic bread itself.

Energised iced tea!

DUMPLINGS. SO GOOD.

Tamrillo chutney, balsamic jelly, red pepper jelly, black doris plum conserve

And chocolates. Oh my.
Rose, lemon & cracked pepper, earl grey, coffee . . .

Really spicy dipping sauce.

Whoopie cakes for sale.
A woman walked past and said, "Why do my whoopie cakes never turn out like that!"
Should I have a go?

So many flavors. The glass was to prevent people salivating on them.

Peanut butter chocolate chip, chocolate cherry & coconut.

And cake pops :D

eelynnafit and I have made cake pops before -->
cool, right?

THIS is apparently really good hot chocolate. They didn't have samples unfortunately.
Hot chilli, classic dark, peppermint, warm ginger. Which one would you get?

"Do you mind if I take a photo?" me, meaning a photo of the product.
"We'd love that!" *poses*

Hazelnut butter and hazelnut paste! It's like Nutella, but without the chocolate.
I asked what you can eat it with and they said anything. Like, anything. Bread, ice cream, crackers, in cooking . . .

Promoting a juicer; kiwifruit and apple fresh juice, made right in front of you

Cupcakes for sale! So cute <3

Oh this. This was absolutely gold.
Fudge.
Double chocolate, nougat, chewy praline, maple nut, creme brulee, chocolate caramel surprise, lemon passion zing, lemon meringue. . .

Among the mint chocolate chip, passionfruit, russian caramel and red velvet (!!) I spotted a curious green one.
"Goody goody gum drops," the woman told me as she cut me a piece to try.
It tasted like rainbows.

More gourmet drinks. You don't go thirsty at the Food Show. lol @ the person in the back sculling hers down.

crispy praline, salted caramel, irish creme truffle, latte

Just look at the packaging. Beautiful

Butlers' hot chocolate. Could've been a bit more generous with the samples :P

Heat up a glass of milk. Drop one of these in and you have a supremely delicious hot chocolate.

Berry and apricot chocolate

Limoncello. Strong, I tell you.
The guy was telling me you can pour it over vanilla ice cream; would love to try that!

I wanted to be the only one over the age of 10 to take a photo with this guy.

Feta made out of sheep's milk.
Tasted like a goat.

Coconut, cherry, red multivitamin, pear, lime and cactus fruit drink. I tried the cactus and it was so good (tasted like aloe); perfect thirst quencher.

Oh. . . one of the best things that day. Wild Appetite dessert sauce.
Caramel, irish creme chocolate, chocolate & hokey pokey, strawberry & champagne, tropical, butterscotch & brandy...
I'm a fan of liquor flavoured sweets, so my favourite was butterscotch brandy.

Oh and Weight Watchers was handing out samples of their prepacked meals. I tried beef hotpot, which was alright. This one pictured was nicer; Moroccan lamb. ('venison', whatever. Tasted like beef anyway.)

More drinks

Jam. Plum, strawberry, raspberry

So much cheese there too. Different flavors of gouda

Italian herb and cracked pepper gouda were my favourite. There was also mild cumin.

OH
The best thing about this year's Food Show.
I seriously cannot get over this. Butter.
Lewis Road Creamery. You have not had butter til you've tried this.
Comes in salted and unsalted (the Pandoro bread was exceptional too) for $6 per 250g (double the price of Anchor or Mainland)
I actually went to this stall 4 or 5 times, cause it was seriously DELICIOUS. If I could eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be this bread and butter combination. Come at me, high cholesterol.

EasiYo yoghurt; Greek, natural, strawberry

More chocolate in nice packaging; white rock, original and peanut butter

White chocolate & cashew rocky road or dark chocolate & walnut ?

Peanuts

Ziwi organic apple drinks

Like the hazelnut butter, here is classic almond and honey almond, your fancy alternative to peanut butter
I thought it tasted pretty average, but you have to look like you're really interested so you can sample more.

Russian fudge. I tried making russian fudge the other week. Failed.

More alcohol. VnC Cocktails
Banana daquiri, passionfruit caprioska, vodka mojito, feijoa & apple, pomegranate cosmopolitan

Remember that really gourmet Lewis Road Creamery butter? They carved it.
I wanted to take a bite out of her shoe.

Vegetarian food :) Mushroom burgers and vege sausages... yum.

cocktail sausages, herb sausages, crumbed schnitzel. All vegetarian

And then! One of my most loved stores. Petal Cupcakes. Nothing says 'you're special' like a Petal *hint

I was so looking forward to this stall. Mini cupcakes for $1
Mango, black doris plum, raspberry and salted caramel

I thought I tried the salted caramel one, but in this photo it looks too yellow and I cannot actually remember which one I tried.

And opposite to Petals... Donovans.

Chilli & lime dark chocolate, feijoa milk chocolate, 80% cocoa, milk chocolate.
The feijoa one was so good; even though I can't taste chocolate like I used to, it was still good.

russian and chocolate fudge

And coffee at Nescafe :D

Machine demonstration. I had a latte (it was really bitter)

We kept the cups :P
Make cute dessert cups, no? Mini trifles, single serve cheesecake, pannacotta moulds, M&M jar,

Last year the highlight was the ice cream stalls, Ginelli's had blood orange gelato, which tasted like Frank's blood orange drink, but so much better. I think I went back for thirds.
But this year, they weren't at the Food Show. I was still happy with Rush Munro's

Honey, caramel, apple & cinnamon rice cakes. Interesting.

Cooking demonstration with free range eggs, making french toast using crumpets.

Cooking demonstrations with Nosh!

The chef on the right was saying that pizza is perfect with 2 or 3 toppings.
I disagree; load on the chicken, bacon, brie and cranberry

Or smoked chicken, pesto, basil, cherry tomatoes and feta pizza

Foreign cheese with names I cannot pronounce

And here's some mighty expensive brie.

French food :)

Piako yoghurt. If you love yoghurt, you will love Piako.

It's so easy to devour a whole tub :/ But it's totally fine cause they have fat free ones :)

Lemon curd, passionfruit, natural
(jt, I think you will like this. Fortunately you can only get them in Auckland ;) )

jam, puddings

Italian snacks; brownies, chocolate chip cookies

Lots of chutney

Looks like Kero :D I thought I was at Armageddon for a sec

more yoghurt <3 banoffee pie <3

Last year, for the first time in my life I tried haloumi cheese. It is a type of hard cheese that you grill.
I think it will taste perfect in a burger.

Traditional and lemon chilli haloumi

Deep South ice cream. Softest ice cream I have ever had!

Licorice, hokey pokey, kahlua, creamy cookie, chocolate berry ripple. I tried the kahlua one, it was delicious.

Creamy cookies. Will be sold in tubs in September they told me!

Parmesan, would you believe it?

Tasted so strong.

Funny looking cheese that you put on pizza

Tefal product demonstration

Look! A toaster with egg poacher!

Making potato chips with virtually no fat

Delicious gourmet ice cream. Boysenberry, caramel slice, chocolate brownie and vanilla

Quick rice

Ginger syrup. The lady talked to me for ages about it while I drank it diluted with hot water to make ginger ale

More chef demonstrations

I don't know. . .

And then Weight Watchers handed out sundaes!

This man shaving some kind of meat.

I don't know either. . .

Lots of chocolate with different cocoa content

Gu. My favourite gourmet dessert brand.
Last year we got to try each of their products; cheesecake, pies, chocolate puds.
But this year, I could only try the banoffee. So gourmet.

And then I came home and unloaded my bag.
Tea, Weight Watchers', an apron, chocolates, Sunsweet, vouchers and many more
Note the rose with french vanilla tea on the right; best tea found in supermarkets. Lauren reckons Twining NZ Earl Grey is also really good

Paneton baguettes; $1 each.
We also got Tiptop loaves 2 for $1. Told you there are bargains at the end of the show!

Lots of Earthwise soaps and laundry powder

We were there from 11 to 5, and we got soooo full. It was like, "Ohhh I can't move... Oh look, chai tea!"

The highlight would either be the butter or not getting asked for ID *fistpump*

And to conclude,
look at this book!

So nautical!

Signed,
Elisa.