Born of the sea, Guided by the stars, Blessed by the earth

Good Food & Wine Show 2017 at CTICC

published on: Saturday, 03 June 2017

The Good Food and Wine Show has been an institution on the foodie calendar for ever, but it has been a few years since I attended the show.
I was keen to see if any changes had been made and what strides the new owners have made.
I must say it was totally jam packed on Saturday afternoon - I am sure the bad weather outside (hooray!) helped this - so the numbers certainly looked good!

I applaud the theme of Food Waste, as I have always been appalled at the incredible waste at restaurants, when we have so many people starving right on our doorsteps.

The wine area is sponsored by the Michelangelo International Wine Awards, who now also have Airlink and Tsogo Sun on board as sponsors.  They had a nice-looking Wine & Food pairing station, seating a good 30 people, which was very busy as we wandered past. They had some rock star sommeliers to present food & wine pairing sessions, from Tinashe Nyamoduko from famous The Test Kitchen to Greg Mutambe from The 12 Apostles Hotel and they even shipped in The Saxon in Joburg's sommelier - Lloyd Jusa.
Franschhoek had their successful Tram on show, and as usual Raka Wines were busy busy.

We were fortunate to see our lovely South African star chef, Jan-Hendrik vd Westhuizen, doing a Chefs' Open Theatre session, and he was simply charming.  At his Michelin-starred restaurant in Nice, France, JAN, they are very aware of food waste and clear their kitchen totally after each shift - and stock up the fridge fresh every day.
Jan seemed a little homesick, giving us Saffers advice on not being too negative about life here, as life elsewhere is actually really tough and we need to celebrate what we have and value it.
He also revealed that in fact he will be returning to South Africa at some point! Not sure when, but he will be back...  at the right time at the right venue. My bet is somewhere up the west coast!

I really think that Cape Town could do with an authentic South African restaurant, so come home soon, Jan!

ARA - Industry Association for Responsible Alcohol use Not for sale to persons under the age of 18. Enjoy Responsibly.