LIMA — Nearly 500 people crowded the Lima Memorial Civic Center on Tuesday for the 12th annual Taste of Home Expo and Cooking School.
The event, sponsored by The Lima News, featured several vendors, and professional chef Eric Villegas displayed several relatively easy recipes for people to try out at home. Attendees were treated to free samples from several vendors.
While the event is designed around cooking, several other vendors, such as boutiques, window specialists and furniture stores, also attended the event.
“It helps in promoting different places throughout the Lima area,” said Lima News Marketing Coordinator Jessica Lammers, who helped coordinate the event. “For the people attending, it is a chance to see what is in our area and to have a little fun.
Villegas, a culinary specialist with Taste of Home, gave a presentation on six simple recipes designed to be prepared in a short time. He showed breakfast, dinner and dessert recipes with a holiday spin.
“Years ago we used to do themed shows but we now concentrate regionally on recipes that are representative of the season,” Villegas said. “Taste of Home historically likes to teach recipes that are not too complex. The cooking time is a half an hour to an hour with real food and a little bit of technique involved.”
Villegas said the presentation was perfect for people who wanted go-to dishes for holiday entertaining.
The show is designed to attract the female crowd, which helped draw other vendors other than food businesses.
“We knew it would attract a lot of women and women are also the majority of our customer base,” said Jill Borkowski, an interior designer with Gilberg Furniture in New Bremen. “It was a great chance for us to get our name out there and show what we have to offer. Everything went real well and we had a lot of people say they planned to visit us in New Bremen.”
The show achieved its intended impact on the people attending the show. Margaret Dudgeon was one of many attendees chatting with friends about the expo and cooking show. Dudgeon made the trip from Marion.
“I am a subscriber to the magazine and I use it a lot,” Dudgeon said. “I have seen the shows advertised and I always wanted to go to one.”
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