The sweltering head pounding on my head, I braved the crowd at this year’s CLA Game Fair, hosted in the magnificent groups of Blenheim Palace, in search of some culinary delights.

 

My experience of these sorts of events – much like the BBC Good Food Show and the Taste of London, is that it is very much geared towards the average consumer. Stands marketing the same range of products you find in most supermarkets try to seduce punters with, sometimes dubious, links to the countryside (insert other speciality past time depending on the shower you’re attending). It is rare to find a truly gastronomic joy at these events. But for you, dear reader, I will endure the suffering.

In a country where the rural sector offers such a fantastic range of produce, it was disappointing that the fair’s “Totally Food Show” totally missed the point. Supermarket cheeses and mediocre wines were interspersed with overpriced (can you believe £5 a burger!), greasy fast food trailers, which made McDonald’s seem like a Michelin-starred fine dining establishment. Nothing stood out as being representative of the British countryside. Especially not the Spanish Iberico ham (even though it was delicious). The Oxfordshire countryside boasts a variety of cheeses and herds of various beasts. Where were the truly local producers?

Having worked on my father’s stand this year at the Taste of London show, I am acutely aware of the extortionate cost of hiring a stand at some of these shows. Perhaps the real countryside was priced out of The Game Fair. Who knows?

There were a few things worth a mention though.

The current campaigns on school food and healthy eating are have influenced Lime Food Design , a catering company, to mount a Children’s Cookery Demonstration theatre. Whilst the adults were entertained to Mary Berry, the kids gathered around supervised tables making vegetable tortilla wraps. I wasn’t allowed to join in.

Making food fun and encouraging interest in ingredients and the sources of foods is as essential to the curriculum as maths and reading if we don’t want to raise a generation of obese sweet munch animals or picky eaters who will only eat high-salt processed foods.

Adults were also caught up in the education game, as the CLA pushed their “Just Ask” campaign, encouraging consumers to ask about the sourcing of produce when they dine out.

Smoked food is a little pleasure of mine, and I have often thought about buying a hot smoker. My eye conveniently fell on a small stove-top smoker (Cookequip ). The 12 varieties of woods will make for some fun experimentation.  Watch out for the updates in “What’s All the Fuss About?”

I had the pleasure of meeting Jim and Margaret Hodge from The Pie Mill . Their award winning pies are produced, using locally sourced ingredients (even the flour), at their bakery in Cumbria. I took home one of their latest recipes, The Sharp Edge (Wild Venison with Stilton & Port). The crust was perfect and the filling was pure meat. A real treat. I’ll be paying them a visit when I start researching my search for the perfect pie.

After a hot day walking around the splendid groups of Blenheim Palace, I looked forward to heading home for lashings and lashings of ginger beer, in true Enid Blyton style. My new ginger beer kit from The Homemade Drinks Co. should help. I’ll report back brewing progress in a few weeks.

The CLA’s annual event moves to a different location every year, and this 50th anniversary fair hit the jackpot in terms of finding such sumptuous surroundings. I would urge the planning committee to really think local when it comes to the food part of the fair. Stop being greedy, lower the stall prices right down (or make them free!) and give the real local producers the opportunity for some national exposure. The CLA is encouraging us to “Just Ask” where your food has come from, well for this fair the ham is from Spain and the wine from Germany. Is that really the way to lead by example?