BBC Good Food Show
|
|
The standard entry price to this show is £20.50 so it needs to be very good to justify this level of expense. On top of the entry price, if you want to attend any of the special events in the hall, you will need to pay even more, typically £5.00. Be assured though this is the flagship cooking show in the UK and it warrants a visit for that reason alone. |
|
GETTING THERE
 |
Birmingham NEC is well situated close to the M42 motorway. The problem is that the surrounding entry roads to the show are simply not designed to cope with the level of traffic to a major event such as the BBC Good Food Show. Leave at least an extra hour on top of the expected journey time for the queues and bring something to keep the kids amused. |
The car parking costs an additional £8.00 per car and parts of the car park are uneven. To make it worse, if it's raining there are puddles all over the car park making walking difficult for some.
Shuttle buses operate from various parts of the car parks to the main entrance and they worked well. Beware if it's raining though, there is only a small area at the bus stop which is covered.
WHAT'S ON AT THE BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW
 |
Every imaginable business in the cooking industry is at this
show. There were literally hundreds of stalls spanning a huge range
of cooking subjects. On the left is the "Getoily" stall, devoted almost
entirely to different types of cooking oils. We didn't find many new ideas at the show, but we did find that every aspect of cooking was covered. |
 |
The pictures on the left and right further illustrate the variety of stalls at the show. On the right is the Buffalo Burger stall, on the left is a stall devoted entirely to bread. It's all there at the BBC Good Food Show Birmingham. |
 |
 |
One of the most enjoyable and free aspects of the show are the
large number of individual stalls providing live cookery
demonstrations. On the left is a demonstration of Chinese cookery by one of the stalls. |
 |
Not only are there demonstrations but many of the stalls offered
little taster portions to tempt you to buy. On the left is the Garlic
Farm with their stall devoted to every type of garlic.
We tasted some delicious sweet garlic (it really was sweet) and eventually were tempted to buy some smoked garlic. Other stalls have a large variety of tasters. |
 |
Each day there are a several free major cooking demonstrations. When we
were there we watched Sophie Conran make a very tasty traditional
steak and kidney pudding.
Strangely enough, after the food was cooked no-one was allowed to taste it for health and safety reasons. Weird! |
 |
Another free major cooking demonstration we saw was performed by Angela Hartnett. This time the audience (if they were quick enough) were given the chance to taste the very appetising pasta dish. Gordon Ramsay (see picture) made an unscheduled guest appearance. |
The major show of the day (£5.00 extra) was performed by Gordon Ramsay. Foul language and excellent food were there in plenty. This really was more than a cookery show, with Gordon on top form. If you can afford the extra entrance fee it's well worth it. But remember to book up well in advance online, tickets are often in short supply.
EATING AT THE BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW BIRMINGHAM
 |
As well as all the tasters available on the stalls at the show, there were several restaurants and cafes. Click on the picture to see what we choose. Seating at the restaurants was adequate, the service was good and the quality of our food was excellent for the price. |
 |
For an idea of prices, click on the left hand picture for a
clearer view. Some restaurants / cafes were cheaper and some were
more expensive.
Overall we were really pleased at the prices and quality on offer. So often at large shows the prices are high and the food is not good. |
 |
At one end of the show area there was a carpeted floor for
sitting on and eating food not bought from the cafes. Probably the best idea foodwise, is to buy a takeaway from one of the stalls and sit on the floor to eat it. |
DISABLED FACILITIES
There was no shortage of wheelchair users at the show. If you come by car
and display an orange badge, the car park attendants will direct you to
level and dry car parking near the main entrance. Once inside, all areas
are technically accessible to wheelchair users but the sheer size of the
crowds attending the show make moving around difficult.
The morning is definitely less crowded than the afternoon, so bear that in mind. Disabled toilets are available and well signed. If you are planning a visit and are disabled, check out the BBC website for up to date and more detailed information.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, it's a very expensive show to attend especially
if you include entrance to the other major demonstrations. But it is a
whole day out and there is no other show in the UK that offers such a
variety of cooking subjects in one area.
Go once is our advice, you will thoroughly enjoy it but we won't be there the next year because of the cost.
| CookUK Home Page | Site Map | |
|
|
||
|
|
