The Fabulous Food Show -- Cleveland, OH


Last weekend Dave and I went to the Fabulous Food Show with two friends. This was my first time at the IX Center and the first time any of us had attended the Fabulous Food Show. We bought the most basic tickets as well as the smallest alcohol package available for both of us -- which provided us each six drink tickets.

According to the Fabulous Food Show, the following demographics represented the 2016 attendees:

"Demographics: Adults 25-54
Household Income: $60-$100k
Attendance: 30,000+
Average Attendee Purchased $100 in Products"
We attended the last day of the three day show and the IX Center was still plenty crowded with attendees. 

Samples galore! 


My first alcohol ticket was spent on Ice Wine! I selected the Riesling Ice Wine, it was perfectly sweet.


Ice carving.




One of my favorite samples was from Bissell Maple Farm -- the Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup and Rum Barrel Aged Maple Syrup were both amazing. Bissell Maple Farm is located in Jefferson, Ohio and takes online orders. They recommend serving the syrup over ice cream. I didn't purchase any the day of the Fabulous Food Show, but I will be ordering some for Christmas gifts.



The Cocktail School was an area with rotating local bartenders from "Tin Play, Robbie Flair, Flying Fig, Barrio, Society Lounge, Velvet Tango Room, The Black Pig, Toast and more" showing participants how to create the latest cocktail trends. This event took quite a bit of drink tickets though, so we opted to use our tickets on other samples since most of us had purchased the smaller package.



More drink samples -- although it looks like all we did was drink, we sampled plenty of food as well -- salsas, jams, jellies, hot sauces, etc. 



Some very popular celebrity chefs were in attendance giving demonstrations and talks -- Cleveland's own Michael Symon; Buddy Valastro; Daphne Oz; Damaris Phillips; Aarón Sánchez; and Melissa d’Arabian.

There were tickets available for book signings as well as VIP tickets for the presentations put on by the celebrity chefs. Although we didn't spring for the more expensive tickets Dave was obsessed with the idea of spotting Aarón Sánchez. 





Graeter's Ice Cream from the Giant Eagle Market District sample area. Market District is a sponsor of the Fabulous Food Show and we love their products. We live near a Market District and it is my favorite place to shop for food products. 



We were calling this the Cannoli "Turducken" from Rito's Bakery, their lemon scone was amazing!




Wicked Cocktail Jam from White Church Co. in Lisbon, Ohio. They offer a Divine brand of wine jellies, and candles inspired by the jams and jellies. I've added these to my Christmas shopping list as well, I have several friends who would love these. Also available online! 





Karate Cowboy was one of the vendors -- Tequila + Sake. Their frozen pineapple mule was delicious! I went back for seconds. 




Dave realized his dream of spotting Aarón Sánchez. 




After we made our way through all of the free food samples it was time to visit the food trucks for lunch. There was a kiosk to pick-up tickets to use at the food trucks, each truck had a variety of items at different ticket points.

Barrio Tacos -- Ballpark Nachos with black beans, chihuahua cheese, queso blanco, ohio sweet corn salsa, pico de gallo, and salsa verde. 



The Orange Trük -- Original Trükballs -- crispy deep fried risotto balls topped with red pepper aioli. This was so amazing, we almost bought a second one just to enjoy it all over again. 



Vegetarian Pita from Off the GRIDdle. 




Sweet! Mobile Cupcakery -- Chocolate Peanut Butter. 



We left the Fabulous Food Show very full, I probably would have still been hungry if we tried to only eat free samples, but the food truck fair filled me up. I love to cook and learning about new products and equipment is always fun. I appreciated how many of the vendors were Ohio based companies, I strive to buy local products and will be stocking up on some of these items for the holidays. If you don't like to spend time contemplating purchases like me, you could easily purchase many amazing items at the food show and skip out on paying for shipping.

We were able to get our $20.00 tickets by purchasing them in advance at Giant Eagle -- but that was the only place that we saved any money. Be prepared to spend if you'd like to eat and drink...and that's not counting any food, products, or books you purchase. It was a fun experience, but I don't know if its something we would check out every year due to the cost. If we do go back, I would want to spend a little extra to do a meet and greet or to sit in VIP seats during one of the celebrity chef demonstrations just for the fun of it.

My rating for The Fabulous Food Show:


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