I was sent a pair of tickets to the Allergy and Gluten Free Show last weekend. I do not consider myself to be very allergic (apart from a lingering suspicion that either dairy or lactose mildly disagrees with me – more of this at a later date) and I am not gluten free. However, Olympia is very close to my home and despite last Sunday being the hottest day of the year so far I jumped on the bus and popped in.
I am so glad that I did go. Once there I was amazed at the range of fabulous food exhibitors and it struck me that with food one person’s special or allergy friendly ingredient is easily another person’s speciality food. I was struck by number of awesome vegan bakers there with the most amazing cakes, brownies and cupcakes. Although I am not vegan, I eat vegan most of the time and firmly believe that there is no reason for anyone to buy any animal products that are not both free range and organic, if you cannot afford it then it is possible to go without and still eat treats and delicious food.
I had a lovely time chatting to lots of people, all of whom were passionate about their products. It was lovely to see some small speciality food businesses there. I especially enjoyed talking to the lovely couple that run Revolution Tea as I slurped and tested my way through much of their extensive range.
I came home laden with bags of goodies from 9-Bar, Clearspring, Kara, Lactofree, Nature’s Path, Plamil, Revolution Tea and others. I have made plans for all the review samples and will be blogging about them (and adding them to my new Ingredients Directory) as soon as I can. But I* am decorating this week, my kitchen is out of action, my larder is sealed shut with masking tape and my camera bag is hidden behind a large pile of stuff somewhere in a corner of the sitting room.
My thanks to Chris at Outside Line for my free ticket to the show.
* When I say I am decorating, I really mean that my decorator and boyfriend are doing the bulk of the work whilst I keep them in coffee and tea.
That sounds fun! I love foodie shows/conventions :]
Oh what fun! I too am a sucker for a good trade show. New products are just so exciting, and the free samples don’t hurt, either. ;)