Asia Pacific Food Expo (APFE) 2006

From 17th Nov to 21st Nov 2006, Singapore Expo Hall 5

Jaymes & I sent my friends off at the airport very early this morning. We had our breakfast at the canteen in Terminal 2. As it was still early, we hang around the airport until 9.30am. Jaymes bought food for Chris. We took the MRT & I alighted first at the Expo station.

The Asia Pacific Food Expo opens at 11am but many people were gathered outside the entrance by 10am. By 11am, the crowd swelled to more than 300. Once the doors to the exhibition hall opened, the people surged forward. Now I could image how Hungry Ghost Festival commences every year!

Capitalising on the growing trends of the Food Market in Singapore, Asia Pacific Food Expo aims to bring the best food from the Asia Pacific Region into Singapore and establish Singapore as the food hub in Asia. There were several participating countries namely, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia. The numbers of exhibitors increase to 145 this year. More than 520,000 people are expected to visit APFE 2006.

Some participating exhibitors offer free food samples while most choose to sell their products. When I attended the first APFE in 2004, because my friend had taken a stall, it was chaos. I left after half an hour. Most of the stalls offered free samples & by the evening of the 2nd day, most of the food were gone. My friend told me some people came to eat for the 5 days that the Expo was on, not buying a thing. They were either groups of friends, students in school uniforms, couples, office workers nearby or families with children. They rushed for the free food. It was horrible.
You could still see some free-loaders at the Expo. Particularly some parents who came prepared. They brought their children and whenever there were free samples, you could see them pushed their kids forward, telling them,"Go! Go! Eat! Take! Take la! Take some more!"

I browsed through some of the stalls and bought some new food products to try. There were too many products, that are offered at promotional prices, to buy. There are many new products too. I didn't bring enough cash with me & I couldn't carry so much purchases. I would come back with Chris & Jaymes so they could help me carry. Oh, and I shall not forget to bring my own trolley.



This stall sells steamed Hairy Crabs, mini Lobsters, Crayfish, Sharks Fin soup, Black Pepper Crabs....etc. Jaymes would sure go bonkers over them!






I love these Taiwanese Pork Balls (台湾贡丸，赞!) They are huge, the size of ping-pong balls. Tender and delicious! I just have to buy them. mmmmm....... S$3 for a bowl of 4.






The promoter offered me a sample each of Wasabi, Orginal, Tom Yam and Japanese sauce flavoured seaweed. They were salty but tasty! The kids love to snack on seaweeds so I bought some. 3 packets for S$5.



I bought these ready made sauces from Malaysia. Buy 5 packets for S$10 and get 1 packet free! I'll try them over the next few days.