john torode opening the show

The final stop of the 2009 tour saw us at BBC Masterchef Live at Olympia in London. We came to this show last year when it was known as BBC Good Food London so we did have an idea about how popular the show was, but it still exceeded our expectations!

Each day the show was opened by John Torode and Greg Wallace – presenters of TV’s Masterchef series. Alongside this, there were demonstrations all day, every day by past winners of Masterchef and Celebrity Masterchef. This brought many familiar faces such as Wendi Peters, Liz McClarnon and our old friend Steven Wallis (Mastercehf winner 2007 who worked with us on the 2008 tour).

Our demonstrations, led once again by our very own Simon Woodhouse, went down a storm

Simon's Grilled Pork with Blackstick Figs

with every show being a sell out before lunch time! Simon prepared Smoked Salmon Crostini with Savoury Cranachan, followed by Grilled Pork with Blackstick Figs. Both recipies were fantastic, with many visitors commenting on how they will be trying to recreate these dishes at home – something they had felt wasn’t possible with some of the other demonstrations they had seen at the show.

We had many different products to offer samples of at this show. These included – pate with melba toast, mixed olives with feta

products we were sampling

cheese, peppadews with cream cheese, cheddar cheese with black pepper served with chutney, stilton cheese, mince pies with brandy butter and truly irresistable crisps and crushes. Once again we had the team from Head Office offering samples of Co-operative wines and we also had one of the suppliers of apples and the supplier of salads on the stand who were also offering samples of their products.

We once again had smoothie bike sessions running throughout the day which were a huige sucess, especially on the first day of the show as there were a number of schools visiting the show and who all enjoyed peddling their way to a smoothie.

Masterchef Live Team

This show was the last of the 2009 tour and what a fantastic time we have had!

me meeting and greeting

On behalf of Chris and Chrissie I would just like to thank everyone who has been part of our team for 2009 – the tour has been excellent and we have met some really nice people along the way!

I would also like to thank anyone who has taken the time to follow my blog and hopefully there will be more to come soon!

Bye for now!

Christine xxx

Brand Ambassador and tour blogger 2009

The next stop on our 2009 tour took us to the SECC in Glasgow for the BBC Good Food Show. This was the first  year we had been at this show, and it was a show which we all enjoyed.

Scottish Smoked Salmon Crostini with Savoury Cranachan

Simon Woodhouse brought two new recipies to this show and both were extremely popular and went down really well with all the visitors who watched his demonstration and tried a sample. He prepared Scottish Smoked Salmon Crostini With Savoury Cranachan and Truly Irresistible Aberdeen Angus Steak With Butternut, Apples and Onions and a Watercress Sauce.

As well as Simon’s recipies we also had a variety of different Co-operative products to give samples of throughout the show. These included Scottish Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese and Oatcakes, Truly Irresistible Moroccan Topped Houmous with Breadsticks, Lockerbie and Mull of Kintyre Cheddar Cheeses, Smoothies, Truly Irresistible Raspberry Crush, Truly Irresistible Crisps and Scottish Shortbread.

Irina and Craig with the cheese samples

We also had the wine team from head office who gave out samples of Co-operative wine throughout the day.

The highlight of this show for me was meeting some very famous chefs. I met the Hairy Bikers and the one

me and the hairy bikers

 and only Gordon Ramsay!!!! They were doing demonstratons over the course of the 3 days as well as a

me and gordon ramsay

number of book signings.

This was a great show which we all thoroughly enjoyed and we can’t wait to go to London next week for the BBC Good Food Show.

Please come along and see us if you can!

Christine x