Food fairs and chocolate

Every two years Slow Food organizes a massive trade show in Torino called the Salone del Gusto. Since the husband works at (and I still freelance with) a mineral water company that is one of the primary sponsors of this event, we have the “pleasure” of participating every other year. As any of you who have ever worked the trade show circuit know, they are a lot of work, you basically give up your life for the (thankfully) few days these things last, and you spend every breathing moment smooching up to people, eating totally unhealthy foods, on your feet, in a closed environment with the constant din of thousands of people talking at the same time. And yet, I always seem to have a lot of fun. You meet people, have a chat over a beer or a glass of wine, and this being a food fair, you get to try a lot of yummy stuff.

As a matter of fact, we were reminiscing today about the best year for us, which was the first year we participated (2004), it was total and utter chaos, but we were right next to the Lindt Chocolate stand… and we made friends with them… I basically subsisted on a diet of chocolate, hot chocolate, spreadable chocolate, dark chocolate… and tea (they were partnering with a tea company) for five days. Heaven! Though my skin was visibly upset at the abuse for days. We haven’t been that lucky since, but really all this means is that we don’t have the goodies parked right next door, we have to go find them, but they’re there so we shall.

All this to say that this is where I’ll be until Monday, I’ll try to keep you updated on how it goes, but seeing as for the next few days my time is no longer my own, I may not be able to. So, ta-ta for now, I’ve got to go find the chocolate pavilion…