Nearly three years ago I braved the Festive Good Food Show at Earl’s Court so I thought it was time to whip around again. On this occasion we also purchased premium tickets (£50!) for a Food Icon “cookery” session with Nigella Lawson but more on that later.

As with the Good Food Show in 2005 the lesson of the day is to make sure you arrive early not only to make it easier to make your way around the stalls but also to allow you to get free tickets to any cooking sessions such as that put on the by the Co-Op this year. Other events include the Tasting Sessions (extra £ on top of show entry) and for the first time this year there was also a Producers’ Village which this year was host the Slow Food pavilion.

The Restaurant Experience this year featured Blue Elephant, Roast, La Porte Des Indes, Smiths of Smithfield, Kai Mayfair, Café Spice Namaste and a few more. Circling the restaurants early on we knew we wanted to try Smiths of Smithfield’s Roast Pork Belly … mmmm ….

Walking around the venue I was surprised at just how many wine/beer/spirit stalls there were. They certainly seemed to outnumber the food stalls on the lower ground. As we got there for opening it seemed just a tad early to be hitting the alcohol but I could see that didn’t stop many of those around me!

It didn’t take us long to circulate all the stalls in all honesty and that included the Producers Village (where we ran into Sam and Stu!) The sampling on offer was quite generous but after a while I got a bit bored of “competing” to get a sample. I couldn’t understand the people who stood in front of the stall taking up space even though it was clear that they had no interest in the product on offer.

As I said earlier the Co-Op were putting on live cooking demonstrations and we’d picked up tickets for the fish session. It was a good session – the chef was quite good with interacting with the crowd and gave some helpful tips. The best bit was that we got to eat what he cooked at the end of the session! 🙂

The highlight of the day and the reason we paid the big bucks was to have a session with Nigella Lawson. I find here so very funny and I think its the fact that, despite how she glamourous etc. she always appears, she is an extremely down to earth person with no airs whatsoever. The fact she also constantly admits that she’s greed is just even more charming. A woman after my own heart.

Although we were in the Cookery Experience she didn’t really do much cooking – she made something out of her latest book – a Christmas recipe book – which was basically a decoration for the tree. Really it was just a way to introduce the Q&A session which subsequently followed. During this session I became even more impressed with Nigella. She’s smart, funny, witty and actually does know her way around the kitchen. She also came across as wanting to genuinely help people with their cooking queries. I walked away very impressed.

Finally, we finished our morning at the Good Food Show with the Pork Belly from Smiths of Smithfields. It was amazing! Melt in your mouth tender with the crispiest pork crackling – delish. Can’t wait to head to the restaurant to have a full serve.

Overall the Good Food Show was just about what I expected it to be. Lots of food and drink sampling and a few cooking and product demonstrations. As we were leaving I couldn’t believe just how crowded it was getting but also the number of people who’d opted for the VIP package – credit crunch or not its definitely not stopping people getting good food into their stomachs.