BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW SPRINGHarrogate International Centre
Friday 25 - Sunday 27 April 2014As a blogger I love to share with you lots of events I know about and go to, so this time got the opportunity to report back for my blog and attend the BBC Good Food Show over in Harrogate.
I have previously been to the cake & bake show, you might of seen my blog post about it. This time i'm concentrating more on lots of diffract foods.This was the first time that Good Food Show would be at Harrogate as lots may know they are held in London plus Birmingham so was not sure if it would live up to its other old venues.Firstly, if you're a little unsure what the good food show is about hare is some information for you - Welcome to the BBC Good Food Show Spring Brand new for 2014 the ultimate day out for food-lovers launched in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, from 25-27 April. The BBC Good Food Show Spring brought an incredible range of independent, artisan food and drink producers, well known brands, and the opportunity to see celebrity chefs and food experts, including James Martin, Mary Berry, John Torode and the Hairy Bikers cooking live on stage in the Supertheatre. -Things to enjoy at the show:BBC Good Food Bakes & Cakes Village
For all things bakes & cakes, pop along to watch demonstrations and pick up clever, creative tips to bake like an expert. If you have a sweet tooth or a passion for pastry then don’t miss out!
The Producers’ Village
Home to scores of small independents and passionate producers to discover new varieties of food and drink for every occasion.
Interview Stage
Discover the secrets of our experts’ success at this stage. Come along to one of the free Q&A sessions taking place, giving you the opportunity to quiz the stars and gain advice!
The journey to the show for us was around 1 hour so not that bad, but when you have your two kids with you like I did on Friday with my partner, it sure was going to be hard for us all.
When we all got to the event, I have to say was not very impressed with parking as we ended up about 10 minutes walk from the show site this is not good when you have a child with special needs as my daughter does with her hydrocephalus.
Finally got into the show and headed straight to the press/media stand as I had to sign in they had put on some amazing food from some of the exhibitors for us the media to sample.
It's not a place to take young kids as it was so busy and nothing for kids to do mine ended up spilling milk all over the VIP food lounge, gosh I was a little embarrassed to say the least. The staff there were so nice helping us even talking to the kids they could not have done more for us.
After this little drama we popped over to see what all the fuss was over at the sighting point and found out it was John Torode from masterchef.
I was starstruck what a true professional chef!
Unfortunately we did not make it to see him over on the supertheatrelater as my kids just could not take anymore bless them, my partner did try and take both the kids back to the car but with two buggies in the pouring rain I had to make the decision to help them safely back.
I would like to say a big sorry to Naomi, who arrange for me to see him was nothing I could do :(
I got a lucky break the next day with a fresh new start as yes, we found help bless them from my mom & dad so would could go back on our own for the Saturday.
Yes I could get stuck in doing some good blogging now. It was even more busy this time round you could not move ended up finding some fantastic stand such as -
The little round cake company
The little round cake company was founded by brian crowther in 2009.
We could tell you he discovered his passion for baking whilst sitting on his grandma's knee and visiting fetes with his mam back in yorkshire as a boy, but who would we be kidding...
brian has never craved the accolades of being a celebrity cake chef reminiscing fondly of his childhood days, he just wanted to build a team of creative and talented bakers that make mighty fine original cakes that you just want to eat...
brian has now been joined by his wife leanne and a growing team of skilled bakers, who create, bake and talk not only about little round cakes but about tweeners, and brownies, and merangz.
All of this creativity happens at the little round bakery in shrewsbury, shropshire where the team bake thousands of delicious treats each week.
meanwhile our exceptional and passionate customer service team travels up and down the country visiting some of the biggest food festivals, events and farmers' markets sharing the little round cake company experience and ensuring you get to try our great selection of tweeners, merangz, tarts, brownies and little round cakes.
You can also buy a selection of our products here on our website and have the little round cake company experience delivered direct to your door! we can get to pretty much anywhere in mainland uk apart from the far flung reaches of scotland, northern ireland and the channel islands...
you can also find us in many farm shops, delicatessens, cafes and coffee shops, and retailers around the country including Selfridges in birmingham and manchester trafford centre.
Taken from http://www.thelittleroundcakecompany.co.uk/about-us only for the purpose of my blog post as I have been asked to report on companies at the show ,all the pictures are my own that I have taken unless stated otherwise.
And yes, it would be rude not to give these yummy cakes a good testing so opted for one double chocolate small cake.
After some delicious cakes you could work your way over to some wine stands and there were not in short supply, to be honest was too many just seem to show was full of wine plus more alcohol brands and not enough mixture.
Very poor of the goodie bags as I have been to lots of shows for my blog was hoping like the cake & bake show if you paid £5 get a bag full of goodies but nope not with this one. You could buy a good food show canvas bag for £3 but that's all you got a bag. Then when I asked if could have the good food magazine they were offering for £1 got told sold out,errrr what sorry I had to ask again just to make sure baring mind was only the 2nd day so was not impressed with this either.
By this time my partner & I was getting a little hungry as getting to lunch time, so we headed over to the other hall, which was the food court with lots of places cooking food, but one thing sure noticed is people all sat on the floor or round the stairs eating so mad it hard to get around , just seemed poorly set up.
Would like to point out I am a vegetation so was on the hunt for some new interesting food to try but yet again let down as just not much about. My partner had lots of choice as he is not a veggie. My partner got to one of the food places and buying a kangaroo burger yep, not my thing, but each to their own as this was a food show with good food.
Ended up going round and round in circles just to try and find a bite to eat for my lunch but nothing caught my eye. Though I am crazy on cheese it made me happy to see that The Cheddar Cheese Company with their outstanding award winning cheeses.
What a fantastic treat as the incredibly talented Mary Berry was on the Saturday.
If you are a keen baker like I am, I'm sure you will know of her, but if you don't hear is a some information about her.
Born in England 24 March 1935 her first ever baking creation was at her school where she made her first ever treacle sponge pudding, then being told by her loving father "this was as good as your mothers ". Then embarked on a domestic science course at her college taking her to new heights with her baking skills. She is a TV presenters on one of the most talked about show The British Bake off.
Not only that she is a writer and had written over 70 cookery books.
I first came across Mary Berry thanks to my mom and I remember her handing me one of her books to do some baking sure it was one of her cookie recipes I just loved to make.
Did get to have very at some very nice sweets such as some coconut ice from Ultimate English
As shown in my press release-
Harrogate-based confectionary business, The Serious Sweet Company, part of the Zubrance group which recorded sales of £30m last year, is aiming to fill what it calls a major space in the high end sugar-boiled confectionary market with the launch of "Ultimate English" , a premium confectionary brand.
Had some of the Unbelievably Wonderful Coconut Ice plus Amazingly Magnificent Lemon Coconut Ice have to say "wow" what a lovely blend with the lemon one and not overpowering.
Lots of stalls selling cooking utensils.
Jacc’s Gourmet Coffee As a mommy of two kids coffee is my lifesaver and this company did not disappoint with a wide variety-
Gourmet coffee beans and groundFlavoured coffee beans and ground
Flavoured instant coffee
Monin coffee syrups
Flavoured decaffeinated coffee
Organic and fair trade coffee
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans
Chocolate covered coffee beans
Coffee grinders.
Did pop over and see a live demonstration from Nutribullet
Nutribullet completely breaks down your food, liquefying and mixing together all the essential nutrition.
The secret of the Nutribullet is its powerful 600 watt motor combined with bullet cyclonic action that forces everything through the turbo extractor blades. The strength of this motor achieves up to an incredible ten thousand RPM that breaks down and pulverises the stems, seeds and skins where some of the usually neglected essential nutrition lies. This combines to help give you the strength, energy and vitality for a full active life whatever your age.
Round up on the how and my thoughts-
As this was the first time this show was being held in Harrogate I kind of thought that it would be all plain sailing such as a big show as the BBC Good Food Show, but sadly came away a little deflated about a lot of issues that the show had. I found they did not seem to get the spacing right with lots of stalls cramped in to small places, but then a lot of space wasted in the other halls. It kind of left me with the whole are you really getting your money's worth from the Harrogate show and my honest answer if I was a paying customer NO !
Here is the low-down on ticket prices-
Ticket Types:
Standard - £18.50 (£19.50 Saturday)
Entrance to the show, includes a seat in the Supertheatre
Gold - £21.50 (£22.50 Saturday)
Entrance to the show, plus a gold front block seat in the Supertheatre
VIP - £60.00
Show entrance with Gold Supertheatre seat, VIP Lounge access, glass of fizz, VIP parking, show shopping bag, goody bag and more.
Bettys VIP Plus - £198.00 for two
All of the above VIP package, with an exclusive box seat in the Edwardian Supertheatre inc. a half bottle of fizz, plus Afternoon Tea at the famous Bettys Tea Rooms.
Do think with a little more thought and planning it could of been so more better ,also needs more vegetarian food with what I said previously way too much wine and not enough variety of food. Highlights getting to see some amazing cooking stars.
Would not recommend young kids going as it can get very busy and no areas for your kid to play.
I hope the next show at Harrogate can be as good as the London + Nec as they have a lot more to offer.
Thank you to the PR Team for letting our blog review and hope it gives you more insight to the event.
+BBC Good Food +BBC World Service +Harrogate Food Guide +Becca Badenhorst +Matilda Sandys-Renton
