Melbourne is such a great city! It has a style and flavour all its own, and is a fantastic destination for a quick getaway weekend of food and footy (awesome!). I also popped over to Melbourne to continue the Stadium Grub campaign for the best stadium food experience possible on game day for sports fans.

Here’s a quick update for you on what went down in Melbourne over the last couple of days.

On food ...

Gotta say, the Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show was a great event! It was held in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, which was a bit surreal because this is where Masterchef’s Top 50 “Judges Auditions” were held. It wasn’t that long ago that we were all just hopeful contestants, nervously wondering if we could make it through to the Top 50. This visit to the MEC was a lot more relaxing, for sure!

Some of the highlights from the show:

- Being surrounded by so many well-known chefs! Among them, I was lucky enough to meet Maggie Beer (how sweet is she?!), bumped into Miguel Maestre (@TheCrazyBull that he is), and sat in on George C’s “Tree of Life" cooking demo. In true George style, he served up modern interpretations of dishes which reminded him of key moments in his life: sesame snaps, a liquorice tasting plate, and crumbed pigs nipples. No joke.

- There were plenty of kitchen gadget stalls and product displays - never hurts to eye what you may be asking for in your stocking this coming Christmas.

- It’s been a lot of fun to meet with MasterChef fans, who are so visibly excited to see one of the contestants from the show, talk to me about the other contestants, and what it’s like to be part of the show!

On Stadium Grub and the campaign

We’ve been very chuffed to get such support from foodies and sports fans for the online campaign. Coming to Melbourne was a chance to speak with Victorians about the campaign, and to get even more people involved.

The campaign got some great support from morning talk radio program 3AW (Australia’s top-ranked morning radio program), and ABC Radio’s Coodabeens Footy Show broadcast. The hosts from these shows are real sports nuts, and are very passionate about food and how it has the ability to enhance their game day experience.The Herald Sun also covered the campaign in their Sunday edition.

With such clear support behind the campaign from sports fans (well done everyone!) and the media in full support as well, the next step for the campaign is to open positive dialogue with those who will benefit from a better stadium food experience for fans: sports clubs, stadium officials and catering companies.

We have a few scheduled already, and others soon to follow. The hard work now begins, but early signs are that stadiums see this as a win-win opportunity!

Watch this space... we’re starting to make progress!

Big Kev