A FRESH Touch
Visitors to this year’s Good Food & Wine Show, taking place across South Africa, can expect a new look and a more experimental global food extravaganza
under the new ownership of international trade fair organiser Fiera Milano, The Good Food & Wine Show promises to be an engaging and enthralling affair this year. The brand has enlisted the visionary Hannerie Visser, of multidisciplinary design studio Studio H, as its curator, and it’s a partnership that has resulted in a dynamic new approach to the show. ‘Like Fiera Milano, who are experts in putting shows together, everything I do at Studio H is designed around the scientific, emotional and psychological impact on consumers and guests,’ Hannerie explains.
Tell us more about the theme, Fresh? It signifies so many things on so many levels for us, from the show’s new beginnings under the ownership of Milan-based Fiera Milano to ‘fresh’ being one of the biggest food trends currently. We’re seeing an ever-increasing appetite for vegetables, an obsessive need to know where our food comes from and a consciousness to eat with the seasons. Restaurant owners and all food makers and suppliers don’t have an option but to source ingredients with sincerity and honesty. People are obsessed with growing their own seasonal produce and earthworms and worm tea are becoming part of chefs’ bestkept secrets, along with family recipes and secret ingredients. What are the biggest changes we’ll see at this year’s GF&W Show? There are very exciting programme changes. For starters, the talks by the big international chefs are now free and anyone can attend. On an experiential level, we’re building several experiences into the design of the show – I can’t give too much away at this stage, except that we are working on an olfactory installation with the House of Gozdawa at the entrance, and do make sure to go past the Wine Walk for the smell wall. And don’t miss the pop-up food movie cinema. What are some of the highlights for the upcoming shows in Cape Town, Jo’burg and Durban? For us it is about creating an overall memorable experience by giving attention to each and every trader at the show. We will be working with all the stand owners individually to create one large, very impactful and unforgettable experience. What are you able to bring to the mix, as a curator with considerable experience on the food side of things? Food is so much more than just something that you eat. We try to think about food in a different way, for example how sound influences taste, how colour influences taste. For any information to be part of our permanent memory, it should have a strong experiential and emotional component. All the senses are super-important when designing any experience. goodfoodandwineshow.co.za