Thoughts for Food

 Read more from Gerald

Our cat Parker is a greedy little fellow, always with his paw out for something to eat; it’s no problem though as he will only eat one brand of cat biscuits and turns his nose up at anything else, steak, fish, chicken. The thing that surprises us is that he never gets bored, as we would if we ate the same thing day after day.

Back in the days of dinner parties we would play a game where each person had to devise a meal that they would be happy to eat every day for a year… with some consideration to the health and dietary aspects of the meal. Money was no object and the meal would be prepared for the person by a cook.

The initial choices would often be expensive… pâté de foie gras, white truffles, Almas caviar, Whitstable oysters, that sort of thing. There were strange and certainly less serious choices too like fugu and various insects, monkey brains and live snake. But in spite of these early suggestions, as the evening wore on and after lively discussion and sober… well, initially sober… consideration, the group usually decided on a meal of surprising and delicious simplicity. Simply put it was meat or fish… I can’t remember any vegetarians ever being there… and vegetables.

I was reminded of this last week when Donna and I went for lunch on her birthday to La Bella Italia, that sublime Italian restaurant and delicatessen in Petone. We shared a plate of wonderful antipasti and for our main course we both chose "Tagliata di manzo con rucola e Parmigiano al balsamico" that is to say… char-grilled sirloin steak sliced thinly, layered on rocket, shaved Parmigiano and balsamic vinegar… mine rare, Donna’s medium-rare.

Words fail me… they were the finest steaks we have ever eaten, faultlessly cooked to each taste, tender and full of flavour; everything a steak should be and sadly so rarely is. They had no complex sauce, no side dishes of chips, salad or vegetables and indeed needed none; the simplicity of the rocket was perfect with the shavings of Parmigiano and drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I knew then that if we ever played that dinner party game again and unless something else very, very, very good was ever served to me this was the dish I would be happy to eat every day for a year… or so. (www.labellaitalia.co.nz)

Later in the week I had another recollection, this time of some lines by the American poet Longfellow: "Into each life a little rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary."

I went to the Food Show.

I go every year in the hope of finding, tasting or learning something new and interesting. Last year as I recall it was Pic’s peanut butter and Wonderbites snack bars that caught my interest among the many stands. This year however it seemed to be much lower key.

Where were the Hawke’s Bay stands that in previous years had greeted visitors with wines, saffron and chillies as they came in? Where were exhibitors like Caffe L’affare, Whittaker’s chocolate, ice cream companies like Rush Munro and Killinchy Gold, tea companies like Twining’s and Dilmah; among the wineries I can’t remember seeing the likes of Stonecroft, Ngatarawa, C.J.Pask and Villa Maria.

Upon checking the programme I found only 147 stands against the 151 advertised on the show's 2013 website and that compared to the 168 listed for 2012. Is the Food Show in decline, in its last throes and on the way out as far as the larger companies are concerned? Have the ravening hordes with no thought for the livelihood of these companies and intent only on devouring their ticket’s worth of samples, consumed both the goose and its golden eggs. I hope not.

However, that said, as usual I have doubts if I will go to the next food show. I'm tired of being pushed, clouted with backpacks or run into or over by baby buggies and shopping trollies. I have had enough of being elbowed out of the way as a front row head for a toothpick or ten of bacon tastings or the parental glare when I remonstrate against a child spilling some sticky concoction over my foot.

I’m no longer interested in new dips or revolutionary natural snacks; I am over jams, conserves, chutneys, sauces, condiments, tracklements and the like. Josh Emett, introduced at the show as "the star of MasterChef New Zealand" (?), called his cooking demonstration "Josh gives a duck", sadly and unlike Josh, as far as food shows are concerned, I don’t… until next year… maybe.