Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. Show, 2007-2009
Friday, February 5, 2010 at 4:14PM Cook. Eat. Drink. Live.’s goal is to be “the” event synonymous with New York City. Aspen has the Food & Wine Classic, Miami has the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, and NYC has…well, many events. I’m not saying that this city is better than any of the others; I’m just saying that if being NYC’s IT event was Cook Eat Drink Live’s goal, they didn’t succeed, to put it mildly. No, it was not awful, but it wasn’t quite as spectacular as I (or they, I’m sure) had hoped. Perhaps it was the sky-high price of admission (which donated some of the proceeds to charity), or perhaps it was a lack of getting the word out about the show. It must be noted that this was the debut year of this show, and in that respect, it was pretty neat. They did a good job for their first time, and had a solid, original idea. Apparently they’ve booked the show for a total of three years, so I’m sure they’ll improve in the next couple of years.
The show had several components: Cooking and drink demos, food products, beverage products, and day spa treatments. They also had a superb panel of cooks and “celebrity chefs,” as well as an unforgettable (in a good way) keynote speech by the amazing Gael Greene.
Here’s why I have such mixed reviews for this show. First, they seemed to have trouble getting organized. The opening speech took place 1 ½ hours late, and this consequently set everything else off late. Secondly, the proportion of food to alcohol was about 1:3. Yes, 1 to 3, not 3 to 1. There simply weren’t enough food vendors even if you love your alcohol. There were some small steak sandwiches, veggie brioche, and Chinese…some cheese…some dips, fruit sodas, granola, pestos, oatmeal, cakes, and chocolate…and a few other things. Then there were hundreds of wines, liquors, and other beverages to try. Even booze lovers were overheard saying there wasn’t enough food. Thirdly, there were demonstrations—but often no one could taste what the chef was making! That’s right; they would have someone cook on the main stage, make a lovely dish, and then the demo would just end. The chef would guiltily say, “Thanks for watching…wish you could taste it…bye.” Audience members would disappointedly get up and slowly walk out of the room, heads hanging low and stomachs growling. The “Culinary Workshops” were a great idea, but really, if you’re paying good money and watching a cooking demo, you expect to get to sample the dish you’ve invested time in watching be cooked. Otherwise, wouldn’t you just sit on your couch, watch it all on the tube, and save money? Smelling the cooking food was even more torture. Luckily they had samples at a few of the classes, especially the mixology and wine samples ones—very nice concept with the smartly-done mixology classes, by the way—and yet at others, sampling was chaos. A Cheese 101 seminar turned into a mess of people with plastic forks hacking at half wheels of hard cheeses in order to get a prized piece. Give it out right or don’t give it at all! No, for the price of admission, just give it out right.
Other things at the show were done well. The dayspa treatments—free!—were very original. One could sign up for a relaxing back massage, hand massage, foot massage, facial, nail manicure, etc. Quite nice. Demos were done by Ilan Hall (Top Chef 2 winner), Will Goldfarb (food chemist), Pichut Ong (original chef), and many other notable chefs. All in all, Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. had some great ideas that just weren’t always carried out right. Next year I have hope that the concepts will be carried out in a fun, enjoyable, and well-planned manner. Let’s see what happens!
Update: 2008's show was unfortunately a poor second showing. The show shared space with the Chocolate Show, and both showed the signs of the times. Because it took place during the hardest-hitting part of the recession, many vendors failed to show, or would show for just a morning, run out of food, and leave without so much as a spokesperson or any literature left behind.
2009's show was missed due to travel outside of the country.
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