Feast Week

Fun in the kitchen: Amber Vito and Daisy Dagg from The Rugby Pantry have a laugh during their cooking demo. Picture by Liam Clayton

They say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, I personally prefer the fourth and fifth rib but if you are trying to capture the hearts of a city filled with foodies and wine and beer lovers, then a week of just that — food, beer and wine — is a sure fire way to do it.

Gizzy Food Week has almost come and gone. This weekend there are a couple of exclusive lunches with New Zealand My Kitchen Rules judge Ben Bayly but the bulk of it is done and digested.

The event, put together by organiser Amy Spence of Black Fig Catering, began with the Gizzy Food Week International Street Food Festival last Friday night. The public donned rain coats and beanies, some wore gumboots in true-blue Gizzy style and headed to the Alfred Cox Skate Park for some hot meals — unfortunately without the wheels as the Sequence Skate Jam was postponed until Saturday. Rightly so, it was freezing.

That did not dampen the spirits of attendees though and the next night, for the second event, the atmosphere was positively bubbling.

Television host and food editor for New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Nici Wickes and pioneering restauranteur, AKA the seafood queen Fleur Sullivan, put on a demo at the Poverty Bay Golf Club that ran more like a comedy act than anything else.

Do not miscon-stew that statement though, the food was incredible: oregano and black pepper venison with wild beetroot relish, pan fried groper with anchovy herb butter and smoked mussels for example. But together, as one attendee commented, Sullivan and Wickes were chalk and cheese, rather sweet and sour — complete opposites but perfect and absolutely hilarious as a pair.

Sunday was a bit more low-heat if you will, with Wickes hosting a yoga and whole foods brunch with Jade Gunness. There were lots of community workshops with SuperGrans and of course the Write Bite competition at the H.B. Williams Memorial Library featuring “Donald Trumpkin” — need I say more.

Tips’n’Tasters with The Complete Kiwi Pizza Oven Chef Alan Brown was also a grate . . . event. The Mara Kai Masterchef Interschool Competition profiled in Friday’s Gisborne Herald went down deliciously with the mini-chefs involved and their supporters. Even the simple things were covered, like knife sharpening as exemplified by butcher Bruce Allen on Tuesday night.

Thursday’s event was one for the vegetarians among us, put on by Kelly Reynolds and Daisy Dagg from the Rugby Pantry and last night Bogan Bingo by all accounts was an absolute riot.

All in all, week consisted of one flavoursome experience after the other, leaving Gizzy people nostalgic for the taste of everything from pulled pork sliders to chocolate and tamarillo clafoutis and of course hungry for more.