No taste-testing? No problem: freebies, bargains lure thousands back to Hong Kong Food Expo
- Buoyant atmosphere at convention centre as city’s food fanatics greet return of popular fair after 2020 cancellation due to coronavirus pandemic
- Apart from lack of on-site snacking, social-distancing measures mean event – which ends Monday – is operating at half capacity
Thousands of foodies and bargain hunters on Saturday flocked to the five-day Hong Kong Food Expo, where exhibitors were busy dishing out freebies to compensate for this year’s ban on taste-testing.
About a dozen people were already lined up at one of the booths shortly after the doors opened at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre event at 10am on Saturday.
Among the early birds was a retired woman queuing at the Happy Mama Enjoy Food booth to buy a preservative-free frozen chicken dish that normally costs HK$108 (US$14) per pack for just HK$1.
The woman, surnamed Leung, was second in line, hours ahead of the flash sale’s 1pm start.
“I was here [on Friday] and saw the discount, but they had already finished giving away the goodies,” she said.