Fabulous Food Show 2014 // a very late recap

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Remember how I’m behind on recapping events?? Yeah, well I just realized that I have yet to even mention our trip to the Fabulous Food Show in November! I won tickets to attend the event thanks to Alicia from Poise in Parma! Chad + I have attended the food show every year for the last 7 years.

Over the last 7 years it seems like it’s become increasingly… boring; commercialized; and uninteresting.

But this year was different. So, so, delightfully different!

Chad decided to forego this years’ event, so my aunt and I (Ari’s “Grandma Dee”), decided to head down early on opening day, Friday. Right off the bat, it just seemed different. I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but the atmosphere seemed a lot less like “BUY! BUY! BUY!” our products, and a lot more locally focused — which it should be! We have SO many awesome local products, restaurants, & chefs, so it just MAKES SENSE to feature them.

One of the first we hit up was ice cream. Because dessert first, obvy.

Grandma Dee and I switched out baby-wearing Moosh. One thing that has stayed consistent with the Food Show is that it isn’t a stroller-friendly event. The aisles are wide, but to get to each vendor booth with a stroller would be near-impossible. Baby-wearing is the way to go.

As I mentioned, I was pleasantly surprised by the local focus from the vendors! Especially since at the last Cleveland Flea I didn’t have a chance to try The Bearded Buch Raw Kombucha because the lines were way too long. But at the Food Show he had a booth and he was offering samples!

If you’ve never had kombucha, it can be an acquired taste; but if you have GOOD kombucha, it takes no adjusting to the flavors! And this is good kombucha for sure!

Moosh happened to see a bottle of NOOMA at the Blue Sky Green Fields table and he freaked out! Luckily, I had a bottle of NOOMA in his diaper bag. Crisis averted!! — Kid is a NOOMA addict!

Blue Sky Green Fields is a local company that I wasn’t familiar with prior to the Food Show. Basically what they do is supply farmers market types of organic food & produce to workplace wellness programs as weekly deliveries. Genius! Unfortunately, my company isn’t participating — yet!

One of the changes for 2014 included an upgraded beer/wine section. In previous years the beer and wine was located in the very back section of the IX Center; where people would be ‘corralled’ into an area where they had to stay to enjoy adult beverages. This year beer and wine was located up front (a large wine section plus beer distributors had individual booths). People were free to get their drinks and walk throughout the entire expo; which makes for a much more enjoyable experience! I didn’t partake in any of the beverage tasting, but if they do the same setup for next year, I would turn this day trip into a baby-free date night!

Other props for the event go to the Food Trucks! Each of the 8ish food trucks offered “sample size” portions of their normal menu items, which could be purchased with the same tickets used for beer & wine. Grandma Dee & I decided we would order a few things and share them between the three of us. The good thing (and bad thing) is that the sample portions were HUGE! We had a hard time finishing our shared portions!

(From left: Barrio Tacos,
Sterles Country House — featuring Cleveland Kraut,
and Sushi on the Roll)

What I’d like to see next year:

1. A larger focus on the local craft beer makers. Great Lakes Brewery appeared to be the one of the only local breweries to have a booth. There are so many great, new, local breweries. Focus on them!

2. Expand on the idea of the food trucks with a larger focus on local restaurants. I would have loved to have tried tasting portions of some of my favorite CLE restaurants (and would love to see them get some mainstream exposure to a crowd that generally wouldn’t venture to these places).

Overall, my best Fabulous Food Show experience to date! Can’t wait to see what exciting things the 2015 show has to bring! Only 10 months to go! Ha!