There are so many distractions here in Tenerife, sometimes it’s difficult to walk down to the beach without being sidetracked. Today was the opening of the Canarian Food Fair next to Casa del Mar on the old beach side of the tunnel that links the Los Cristianos beaches. I thought the weeks work putting up the huge marquee and fitting it out was an extravagant way for Arona council to spend money but it does look rather good and its key position meant that it was doing a brisk trade today, all good for local business’s.

As the title suggests, it brings together food and wine producers from all seven islands and lots of small bodegas, farms and independent producers. The high winds dropped a bit today and the sun shone allowing people to sit in the outside area to enjoy their purchases and to see live traditional music on a small stage. It’s all about the food though, cheeses, jams, honey, sweets, fruit and vegetables plus a wide selection of wines. There are some samples to try, you had to fight to get to them through a sea of eager arms, I pushed my luck as ever by holding out a pint glass at the wine tasting but it didn’t work.

Some of the more specialist items include Gofio, a popular basic cereal eaten by many families, very versatile as a meal base and today I saw it used for Gofio ice cream and turron, that gorgeous sweet caramel like treat usually dealt out at christmas. There was plenty of local veg and fruit, one stall holder was brandishing a pineapple and a young lady was showing off a delightful pear. Anyway it’s just a two day show so if you are around tomorrow (Sunday) pop down between 11am and 8pm and bag some tasty goodies. They got through a loy of musical entertainment and food today but the shows not over until the singing lady’s fat!