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| Paul Wayne Gregory gets animated about chocolate |
The Southbank Centre in London again hosts a food spectacular beside the banks of the Thames. This time it was all about the chocolate! The centre hosts many great exhibitions throughout the year, not just about food, and are well worth signing up for fun alerts.
Paul Wayne Gregory charmingly describes himself as a chocologist. During his 30 minute demonstration he drew graphs to demonstrate the dizzy heights of happiness he reports his chocolates drive people too. 'The arc of indulgence' he calls it (or something like that). He was such fun and clearly passionate about his craft. Talking of craft, not only does he invent great chocolate infusions but he is an exceptionally gifted artist too. He sculpted the portrait below out of chocolate. Good looking, charming, gifted, passionate....
The Food Network were so generous, hosting the demonstrations. A fiver...yep, that's right.. £5 bagged me, chocolate tasting, the demo, and a big bag of goodies with the Food Network insignia; coir bag, apron, umbrella and a very handy food notebook. I was a happy (chocolate) bunny! It wasn't all about the Gregory though, the festival showcased many avid chocolatiers; Damian Allsop and William Curley were hosting demos of their own. Chocolate alchemists abound in a relatively small space, many practically reverential about their cacao bean, mostly imported from Ecuador. Being a vegan I was happy to find bitter, noir delights for me to sample. What else? - Chocolate flavoured beer, chocolate and conservation, raw chocolate, and chocolate ganache made with water (?)! Surprisingly, what moved me most was the gorgeous styling of some of the chocolates. Delicate edible coloured designs in contemporary patterns on the surface of some, edible gold dusted on others and all so lovingly crafted. Food AND art. I had entered Nirvana and it was chocolate covered!
As you can imagine the stalls had queues, four deep in parts. This limited my ability to digitally capture the creations in a manner fitting of their exhibitions...here is what I gathered...look away now if you are not ready to get a hit of chocolate porn!
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| a secret water-based recipe palate from Damian Allsop with flavours like rhubarb and rose and licorice and lime...(getting giddy!) |
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| chocolate chocolate chocolate! |
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| love those designs! |
2 comments:
It was fantastic, wasn't it? My friend and I felt so full after sampling everything (and a big cup of churros might've helped..), such lovely rich chocolates!
My friend bought some Paul Wayne Gregory caramel lollies and gave me one there- then gave me her last one for Christmas! Was a lovely surprise, indeed.
@Lisa Adams-May
Hey Lisa, ah, we all need friends like that eh?! Yes, I scoffed quite a lot too. Inspiralled was a favourite. Oh, to think we probably passed each other several times (or more likely I clambered over you to reach the free shards of the good stuff).
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