You may remember recently that the good people at Plenty
gave me some tickets for the BBC Good Food Show being held in the SECC in
Glasgow, over the weekend of 19-21 October. As luck would have it, Disneyboi
and I were visiting Glasgow that weekend anyway to see the Scissor Sisters
(what a great concert!), so I arranged to go down earlier than planned, to visit
the show. Sadly, my pal Linley had to call off, but I travelled down on my own
for a nosy.
I entered the hall at the SECC to be greeted by amazing
sights and smells, a free Good Food show guide
– and LOTS of people. The area was set up with little stalls
for each company, promoting their wares. One side was set up for Scottish
exhibitors – billed as Scotland, Land of Food and Drink Regional Village. The
other side was touted as the Producers Village (I couldn't really tell the
difference!). Plus there was a Farmer’s Market, a Seasonal Tasting theatre,
Nick Nairn demonstrating recipes for his Cook School and the Supertheatre. I
wandered around the stalls, trying samples of the delicious food and drink on
offer. There was vodka, wine, cider – all very early in the day, but I managed.
Also lots of varieties of cheese, bespoke vinegars, spicy curries and of course
Arbroath Smokies (from my home town!). I also had Hog Roast Roll for my lunch
which was delicious, packed with lots of stuffing and onions.
But being Cakeyboi, the biggest draw for me was the array of
sweet goods of display, oh yes, and the small matter of Paul Hollywood and Mary
Berry from The Great British Bake Off being there. I had booked a visit to the
‘Supertheatre’ at one end of the hall, for a GBBO Masterclass with Paul and
Mary. Now it only cost £3, but I was a bit disappointed that they were on stage
for probably a little less than half-an-hour. Olly Smith from Saturday Kitchen
introduced them; they then in turn made a couple of bakes from the series (iced
finger buns and fraisier cake). And to top it off, at the end they brought out
James Morton, one of the runner’s up from the show (and who I wanted to win!).
All in all, despite it feeling a bit rushed it was enjoyable.
I ventured back into the main area, to sample sweet treats –
lots of fudge, shortbread, tablet, brownies, cookies and Tunnocks teacakes at
the Tunnocks stall. I bought a Salted Caramel brownie from The Brownie Bar,
which was delicious – there were a lot of flavours to choose from, it was a
hard choice! I also bought a couple of rolls of chocolate chip cookie dough
from Mo’s Cookie Dough – but more on this in another post! And I spied some
MAHOOSIVE meringues from the Whole Food exhibit, one of which I bought for
Disneyboi. It was swirled with raspberry and looked like an all-in-one Eton
Mess to me. He hasn't tried it yet…
I later watched Mary Berry again, at the ‘Love Food, Hate
Waste’ theatre, where she ran through a couple of recipes, giving tips on how
to use all of your food, without chucking anything away. Now this was a free
theatre, and lasted longer than the paid Supertheatre event, so I did feel that
the main show was a bit of a swizz. Oh, another bugbear was the amount of
people who just stood aimlessly, blocking paths, or folk rushing about
jabbing you with their elbow – consideration for others please!!!
Paul and Mary were signing books at the WH Smith stand, although I didn't wait in line, lots of gadgets being demonstrated a-la-shopping channel-mode (I bought a 'whizzy
whisk' – don’t ask!) and some supermarkets promoting their lines.
I stayed a few hours, before realising I couldn't sample
another thing! I did enjoy myself and will visit next year, if I get the
chance. My photographs may be a bit poor, but I was trying to balance my camera and
goodie bag, full of my buys and samples, so apologies.
But thanks again to Plenty for the tickets. I hope my ticket
winners had as good a time as I did.
Looks like you had fun. Sorry I wasn't able to go, maybe next year!
ReplyDeleteWOW! What a great day out! : )
ReplyDeleteI wanted to go but left it too late as I wanted to go on the Friday to see Paul and Mary, might give it a go next year x
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, were you saying something? I've become lost in the raspberry meringue piles...Being over in Canada, we don't get Eton Messes very often (I love them but have only ever had them once in my life!)...DROOL!!! Sounds (and looks) like it was a great event!
ReplyDelete