Fine Food NZ, which took place 13-15 June 2010 at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland, saw a total of 240 exhibitors from around the world serve up the best, latest, and most innovative foodservice, food retail, and hospitality products and services to 5734 trade visitors – 15 per cent more than the expected 5000 visitors.

The event was a dynamic display of food, beverages, ideas and baking and culinary competitions along with the dazzling awards evenings that accompanied them. For organiser Dona White, Fine Food New Zealand 2010 was a thorough vindication of her belief in the need for this kind of show. “North Port Events and Diversified Exhibitions of Australia responded to calls from many sources for a trade show that would provide a truly high-quality, world-class showcase for the food, food service, food retail, and hospitality industries,” says White.

During the show, general talk emphasised how spacious the venue felt, how specific to the target markets it was and how the layout attracted people to key areas such as the Weston Milling Trainee of the Year competition. In this competition kitchens nine apprentice bakers from around New Zealand pulled out all their skills in a live bake-off to create a fruit filled bread, a vegetable strudel, a baked cheesecake and a baked item using Weston Milling products, all with a mix of results.

In the end Dion Ram, a trainee baker from Yarrows in Manaia won the title of Weston Milling Trainee of the Year 2010 and took home $19,000 worth of prizes.

This year Weston Milling also introduced the Celebrity Challenge. Four contestants, Jay Jay Feeney of The Edge radio station, TV personality Alison Mau, and Huffer creators Dan Buckley and Steve Dunstan were set a series of tasks including decorating a cake in their own image and decorating a children’s birthday. Alison Mau certainly proved that she was a woman of many talents with her three tier heart cake winning the overall Celebrity Challenge.