City News

The BBC Good Food Show returns to Birmingham on 28 November with a five day line up that promises to cook up a real pre-Christmas storm!  Food and drink lovers will be in their element with the chance to watch their favourite celebrity chefs in action, pick up some great advice and inspiring ideas to try at home and indulge in a shopper’s heaven with ingenious culinary inventions and mouthwatering foodie gift ideas.

The Supertheatre sponsored by Sainsbury’s will be the setting for show-stopping cookery demonstrations by some of our finest chefs including Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, James Martin, Rick Stein and Ainsley Harriott.  The Good Food Magazine British Theatre will be offering the chance to meet the Good Food Magazine cookery team, watch top chefs like Brian Turner, John Torode and Lesley Waters as well as learn some key kitchens skills like how to fillet a fish and how to choose your cuts of meat.  There will even be sausage making demonstrations from Fordhall Farm, the country’s first community farm which has one farmer and 8,000 landlords!

The Gordon Ramsay Scholar Awards presented by Gordon’s Gin will once again be staged at the show giving visitors the chance to see the drama of the live final stages unfold before their very eyes.  The winning college student or young professional chef will be announced at the show on the Saturday and will then cook live on stage with Gordon Ramsay on the Sunday. 
With their appetites whetted by all the live cookery demonstrations, visitors will be able to enjoy the best food for themselves in the Dining Experience.  Nine top restaurants from the Birmingham area including Heathcotes, Blenheim House and Liaison will be bringing their signature dishes to the show in special miniature sized portions to give visitors a real taste of fine dining.

For those wishing to buy the very best produce on offer in the country, a visit to the Great British Food Festival is not to be missed.  Here the undisputed quality of British produced food will be celebrated throughout, including in the feature areas of the brand new Ludlow Food Pavilion and Henrietta Green’s Foodlovers Fair. 

Ingenious ideas will be the centre of attention on the Lakeland stand as the My Kitchen’s Most Wanted competition’s search for the best new ideas for kitchen equipment draws to a close. Guest judge Peter Jones, from Dragon’s Den will join other judges from Lakeland at the show to see some of the best ideas and talk about what the judges are looking for.  The winner of the competition gets the chance to talk to Lakeland about product development and may even see their product included in a future Lakeland catalogue.

Drinks – the Fine Wine, Beer and Spirits Show will be enticing visitors to taste their favourite tipples and encouraging them to get ahead for Christmas.  Oz Clarke, Robert Joseph, Matt Skinner and Sarah Jane Evans will be sharing their extensive expertise in the Drinks Tasting Theatre.  Wine and Food Masterclasses sponsored by the Wine and Spirit Education Trust will be talking about matching fine wine to Christmas food and new this year are the Fine Spirits Masterclasses for those who prefer their drinks short or on the rocks.  There will also be Great British Beer Tasting, sponsored by CAMRA for ale lovers everywhere and a whole host of exhibitors just waiting to help you stock your festive drinks cabinet.

Dave Hodgson, marketing director at Marketing Birmingham summed up the show:

“We’re delighted to welcome back the BBC Good Food Show to the city. The event remains a must do for food lovers and is a great addition to Birmingham’s thriving food and drink scene. The Birmingham Bites stand at the show puts the spotlight on the city’s food and drink scene from local producers and foodhalls to fine dining and cookery schools. In the past couple of years, the Birmingham Bites stand has hosted Antony Worrall Thompson and Birmingham’s poet laureate, so expect further exciting events on our stand this year.”

Visitors to the NEC are in for an unforgettable pre-Christmas experience in food, drink and shopping heaven between 28 November and 2 December as the BBC Good Food Show Birmingham cooks up a storm.