The BBC Good Food Show has been on my to do list for a while, and this year I finally managed to find time to attend the show for a few hours. It’s bad timing really, because I haven’t been cooking or baking as much as I used to, but even so, I’m still keen on seeing what the best of the kitchen world has to offer.

In all honesty, I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping the show would have innovation and cool kitchen tools, areas for increasing food knowledge, cooking skills and creating more interesting dishes. Generally, I just wanted a bit of inspiration.

There was the occasional stall that had an interesting gadget on it, but for the most part, there were three types of stall:

1. eat on the day stands, ie burgers and ice creams and such
2. test out artisan products, such as cheese or gourmet sausage rolls
3. extension of physical or online shop, ie the sprawling Lakeland aisles

I wasn’t that hungry when I arrived at the show, and the mixture of competing smells did nothing for my appetite, so the taste tests and lunch stalls weren’t that interesting. And I felt a bit irritated at having to pay an entry fee for what amounts to a Lakeland shop, when I can get to one for free in the high street.

Oddly, for me, the most interesting part was the Lexus stand. Beautiful shiny cars, and a magazine to take home about design. Not really anything to do with food though. The food show was twinned with Gardener’s World, and there were more fascinating stalls in that section than in the Good Food area.

Previous visits to trade shows have seen me come away with bags of leaflets and freebies, that Mr C dismisses as tat. This time, I just had a few booklets, and I picked up a flapjack or two for the journey home. A disappointing experience, but at least another check on my to do list.