What a wonderful show it was down at the Exhibtion Centre this year. If you love food this was the place to be. The doors opened on Thursday and from then on five theatres ran from ten in the morning until nine at night. The chefs were more high profile and such characters. Antonio Carlucchio, the legendary mentor of Gennaro Contaldo and Jamie Oliver, and renowned forager, Cyrus Todiwalla from Spice Namaste, an extraordinarily talented and humble man, Reza Mahammed who needs no introduction as his flamboyant personality speaks for him, he is a delight to be around, and George Calombaris and Benny Marekwameng from Masterchef SA and Australia.
If you had children with you, Sid Sloane was on hand to cook with them, in a hands on show, the CBBS crew entertained little ones in a series of events at the back of the show, and there were balloons galore, fudge galore, biltong, and an endless supply of everything from cupcakes to samoosas to snack on.
Is shopping is your thing, there was virtually nothing in the culinary line you couldn’t buy, from Le Creuset to Kitchen Aid, they were all here. I found a gadget to help my mother open jars and the most beautiful chopping boards from Benguela Trading in Franschoek. The lovely thing was to see how much more local produce was on offer.
Local chefs were in evidence too, the pastry chef from The Oyster Box did a demo, and every face from the Durban food scene was around at one point or another during the three days, from Renzo Scribante, to Paul Shepherd and Marco Conte. If you have been meaning to go down each year and not made it yet, go next year. It is worth every cent of the entrance fee, just to wander around among your foodie heroes, and the R20 for a tasting glass allowed you to taste over 120 wines. I had a ball.
- A picture of Sid Sloane with a young fan
- A photograph of Renzo Scribante of Remos and Reza Mahammed the Spice King
