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The Food Show For People Who Love Eating, Drinking, Cooking And
Entertaining
Held In Auckland June 22-24
Kate Methven - 13/07/01
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Food, glorious food!! Aucklanders queuing to sample the wares
at the Food Show
Photo source Kate Methven
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Big crowds attracted to the Food Show
The advertisers certainly knew how to draw in the crowds with their
appealing caption - The Food Show for people
who love eating, drinking, cooking and entertaining and over the three
days of the event Aucklanders poured into the
Logan Campbell Centre in their thousands to try out and taste the many
samples - many not quite on the shelves yet. As one chef told me "We are
using this opportunity to introduce new products and we hope to get feedback
which will help us in our marketing."
Plenty of variety
This is the second year for the Food Show and the number of exhibitors
increased by more than 70 to over 200 this
time. There were sauces, noodles, pastas, juices, oils, wines, soups,
spices, desserts, chocolates, ice cream, coffee and
more to sample and buy.........but that's not all.......food producers,
chefs, kitchen and cooking equipment buyers were
also there displaying their wares and culinary skills.
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A taste of New Zealand - lots to sample here at the Food Show
Photo source Kate Methven
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New products
Organic food is "in"
There were a number of stands offering such
products as organic muesli, bread, cheese and
rice as well as organically-raised pork from Ohakune, home to possibly
the second-largest free-range piggery in the world.
Pitango's soups and salads
A popular stand was Pitango a company which produces ready-to-eat organic
soups and salads. The owners Olaf and
Yasmin Shenhav arrived in New Zealand just over two years ago and
decided to settle here. Olaf was a top chef in
restaurants in Israel and London. They decided to set up a company
providing tasty, organic food which is
convenient and easy to handle. The name Pitango is from a wild, delightful
tasting fruit that grows in Israel.
Pitango's products include fresh soups such as tomato and thyme, creamy
carrot with chilli and coriander, and Indian
vegetable with pea - this was the one I tasted - very yummy. Look out for
this range in your supermarket.
Toppings and garnishes
I also talked to Russell Cowley from Kato Pacific Marketing Ltd. They
specialise in toppings and garnishes and
were introducing three new products at the show - dhal risotto, olive and
caramelised onion topping, and sundried
tomato and caramelised onion (also a topping) These are certainly
something different to offer with crostini when
having friends around for drinks. You can easily make the crostini
yourself from slices of french sticks, brushed with
olive oil, then dusted with parmesan cheese and baked in a hot oven for
around 5 minutes until golden.
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Lots of goodies to sample
from Mother Earth
Photo source Kate Methven
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Look out for this new product.
Macaroni cheese with bacon
and fresh vegies
Photo source Kate Methven
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Mother Earth pastas
Mother Earth, already well-known for their fresh foods and cakes, were on
hand with a great selection of pastas. I tasted the herb and chicken
agnolotti pasta served with a mushroom sauce - only takes 10 minutes to
prepare and
great for busy people - flavoursome too!
Look out for these
Southern Clams Ltd had packets of frozen clams and a variety of
pastas...try their recipe for Pasta Vongole (Clams
with Pasta) - it only takes 15 minutes to cook and is delicious.
Even the old sausage got an update from Tegal Chicken.....yes you've
guessed it - a chicken with garlic sausage - a
show favourite with my husband!!
If you are a nut fan like me pistachios are a great buy as they are low
in saturated fat and naturally cholesterol free -
great served in fruit salad, added to mixed vegetables, rice pasta or
couscous or just on hand to nibble on.
Even the old favourite macaroni cheese has got an update.....comes
readily prepared with bacon pieces and fresh
vegetables in a frozen pack. It takes 4 minutes to cook.
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Anyone for a taste?
Photo source Kate Methven
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Wine tastings
Each day at the show there were more than a dozen 30 minute wine
education and tasting seminars to help people get
the best out of wine when entertaining. All seemed very intense to me
but I know that wine connoisseurs or would be
connoisseurs would get a lot of helpful information taking them past the
stage of serving white wine with white meat
and fish, and red wine with red meat which is where I am at. However
there was certainly a wide selection of wines
not only from New Zealand but Australia and Tasmania as well. The
experts gave advice on such topics as
- New Zealand grape varieties
- Why you should love Rieslings
- How to identify flavours that are characteristic of wines.
Judging by the numbers participating these were very popular sessions.
Cooking seminars
Watching the experts cook up meals and snacks in minutes makes food
preparation seem a doddle (if you can ignore
the dirty dishes!) Certainly these days the emphasis seems to be "Keep
it simple, make it attractive and don't spend all
day in the kitchen".
I watched Allyson Gofton, Food Writer, Editor and T.V. presenter whip up
a couple of special dishes...not the super
quick recipes from her Food in a Minute which appears on T.V.1 just
before the 6 o'clock news, but more substantial
dishes which required longer preparation. My favourite was Honey and
Pepper Cured lamb.
Recipe for Honey and Pepper Cured Ham
The recipe used 2 strip loin fillets with skin on, which were then scored
before placing in a resealable plastic bag and a
marinade added. This consisted of 2 tbsp rewarewa honey, 1 tbsp of
black peppercorns crushed coarsely, half a tsp
of salt, 2 tbsp red wine or port and the grated rind of a lemon or lime
- mix everything together in a bowl before
adding to the meat in the bag. Seal and press the marinade into the
meat and then refrigerate for four hours or overnight.
Remove from the bag draining the juices off before sealing the meat in a
pan with hot oil. Transfer the meat to a 200
degree Celsius oven for 10 minutes and stand for a further 5 minutes
before serving.
Allyson served the meat with a honey sauce made with 2 cups of chicken
stock, 2 tbsp of rewarewa honey, 1 tbsp
tomato paste, 1 bay leaf, half an onion and half a carrot both chopped
finely. Place in a saucepan and simmer until
reduced by half, strain and add 1 quarter cup of sweet sherry (if
desired) and pepper and salt to taste - truly delicious!
Another popular presenter was Julie Le Clerc with her secrets of the
Cafe Kitchen. She quickly mixed up a flat herb
and sundried tomato loaf (unless you're a bread expert just as easy to
buy I think) but then she served it with a fresh
dip made with parsley, lemon juice, nuts (almond or walnut) and extra
virgin oil - all popped in the food processor
one after the other until the desired taste and consistency were reached
- easy to make if you have your own lemons
and parsley and a change from basil pesto.
Asian cooking
This is now very popular in New Zealand but for those of us
wanting to learn how to take the fuss out of
this style of cooking Charmaine Solomon, the author of thirty one books on
the topic, was on hand with plenty of hints.
If this topic appeals to you I can recommend her book "The complete
Asian Cookbook", or browse through any of her
other books at your local book store to find one that suits you.
Well my taste buds were certainly tickled at this year's Food Show and I
will be looking in my supermarket and
delicatessen for some of the new products I sampled.....
See you there next year?
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