We sent our fabulara Representah Zamantungwa Khumalo (otherwise known as JoziStylista) to sample the delights at this year’s Food Wine Design Fair at Hyde Park. For more photos of the event visit our Flickr set of the event here. Over to the fab diva Zama… Sharpile sisi wami!
It’s 32 degrees C on a Monday afternoon. I’m inside a computer lab on campus and the guy sitting next to me is giving me the side eye because I’ve been starring at this screen for the past hour. I find it hard to believe that, just yesterday, I was on the roof-top of the Hyde Park shopping centre for the annual Food Wine Design Fair. Why is it so hard for me to believe this? Well, for a start, it was raining cats and dogs in most of Joziland (okay maybe not cats and dogs, but definitely kittens and puppies!), I was in the company of amazing people (and not the weirdo sitting next to me) and – and this is favourite part, I was eating freshly baked bread, heaven sent chocolate brownies and drinking exotic coffee.
This year’s Fair pulled out all the stops! There were exhibiters from as close as Soweto, to as far as Cape Town and Limpopo. I started off by scouting the place, walking around and going to the stall that grabbed my attention. The first one was Mielie. This small community business creates beautiful handcrafted pieces made from recycled fabric. I spent a good 30 minutes at their stall drooling over the different designs of their bags. 
Another stall with great bags was Barok, a Limpopo based company. They have very interesting designs and I loved their use of different textures and fabrics. Just in case you were wondering, yes, I have a bag addiction… Now that we’ve got that out of the way…
I found myself in the vicinity of the food stalls and being the food lover that I am, I couldn’t resist the temptation to try out the different foods. I tried out banana chutney and it was orgasmic, to say the least! The only chutney I’d ever had before that was Mrs Ball’s Chutney. I don’t think I even knew there were other chutney’s out there. Something else I found strange yet very tasteful was beetroot jam! The shocking thing is, it wasn’t even RED!
Food and design aside, the highlight of the Fair for me was the Marie Claire Pop up store. The Marie Claire stall was very interactive; it had cool gadgets, great wine, a vintage sale and a chance to meet the editors of the magazine. I didn’t get to meet the editors but I couldn’t help but buy a few things at the vintage pop up sale.
I was a bit disappointed in myself: I’m a lover of red wine yet didn’t so much as have a single sip! Don’t ask me why because I have no clue. The funny thing is I kept asking myself, “why the hell aren’t you drinking?” I suppose craziness comes in different forms and this time it decided to hit me where it hurts most! Well, I’ll have the last laugh because I think I’ll go get myself some wine right now! I know it’s a Monday, don’t judge! I’m on holiday!
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