KEY POINTS:
Once upon a time there was a pretty lady called Dona White who owned a company called North Port Events. She loved eating good food and drinking good wine so she thought to herself: how can I be a gourmet and have all the foodies come to me all the time, year after year? I know, I'll hire a big space, call it The Food Show, and see what happens.
What happened was the stalls went up, the people came and ate everything in sight, and the best cooks in the land clamoured to demonstrate their secret recipes.
The Food Show is a very professionally organised and classy way for food producers, cooks, kitchenware suppliers and winemakers to connect with their public and tell them what's going on.
Just like a farmers' market, a food show brings people of a like mind together in one place to exchange ideas, taste new food and learn more skills.
Every cook I know enjoys demonstrating at this particular food show because it is well run, interesting and a good opportunity to get mobbed by their fans as they're running out the back door. Just kidding. And it's not only our clever New Zealand chefs such as Peter Gordon and Ray McVinnie - there are foreign personalities such as Gabriel Gate. You can go mad over coffee roasters, slather over cheeses, fall in love with wines, raise your endorphin levels with chocolate, find out the truth about organic food and make clear decisions about just how much extra-virgin olive oil constitutes too much.
Oooh, and LemonZ will be there - if you love Limoncello, you'll adore this stuff - I scream, you scream, we all scream for icecream with LemonZ dripping off it. And Pitango - fabulous organic soups and dips and such nice people.
You will see a grown man dressed as a yellow chicken and can ask him to make an omelette for you. The only Maori-owned wine company, Tohu, will be there - their wines are very good, particularly the sauvignon blanc.
The recipes I have given here are from Food Shows present and past and I'm usually inspired by places I've visited.
The fish tagine is from my culinary tour in Marrakesh, and takes me straight back to the medina and stands piled with fresh coriander, mint and parsley. The taste of preserved lemon is like nothing else in the world and can't be replaced by fresh lemons.
The Food Show is also a good place to find your favourite food cookbooks, which the writers will sign. So what if it's winter? Get off that couch, put on your glad rags and get out to that gastronomic blow-out next weekend.
* Peta Mathias will be demonstrating at The Food Show, ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Auckland; July 31 to August 3. www.foodshow.co.nz