Folks from Food Lion were handing out shots of Cheerwine as you walked into the hall of the 2009 Food and Wine Expo highlighting NC grown products. That’s fitting because both Cheerwine and Food Lion are NC bred. (I picked up a brochure they were handing out on their Guiding Stars nutrition rating system.)
Thousands were at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh for the Got to be NC Festival which featured the Food and Wine Expo, a BBQ competition on Saturday, music, Health and Fitness Expo and antique tractor exhibits.
I was excited to see a number of folks in the Food and Wine Expo, including Mama Dips Restaurant from Chapel Hill.
There’s an ad for the Got to be NC Festival on page 4 of the current Edible Piedmont. The magazine’s managing editor Fred Thompson looked a little tired on the expo’s third day, but he was there manning the booth. I like the magazine’s Food Heroes section.
The longest line I saw waiting for food was at the Q Shack where they were providing samples of BBQ.
And the most excited person I saw was a young man waiting with his mom for a purchase at the Specialty Apples display.
Folks were excited and interested in the food displays and there was plenty to see. NC Department of Agriculture had an agri-tourism booth and NC Cattlemen were touting NC Beef.
When we visited the Health and Fitness Expo we found some non-NC food booths. Smuckers was handing out samples of low-sugar and sugar free jams and natural peanut butter. Panera was giving away tasty brown sugar cinamon bagels.
It was a great day to visit the fairgrounds and I can testify to the crowds there at lunchtime Sunday. I’d encourage NCDA to offer space next year in the Food and Wine Expo to some of the farms that provide produce at the area farmers markets and through community supported agriculture. It would be a good opportunity for our state’s food heroes to get their due.
Finally, if there’s an event at the state fairgrounds, you might expect that there would be some unusual fried food served. NCDA has this report on fried pizza.
