And Stoli flowed literally like Water

While not a food fight story, a story about SIA food excess….By way of background, most old SIA hands will remember W.L. Gore’s epic Chuck Berry concert evening but few remember what happened the following year. That was the year of Gore’s international food party.

Here’s how it went down.

The first thing you noticed walking into the massive Convention Center meeting room were how aromas of good food filled the air. They were almost overwhelming after a long day walking the show and building up a sizeable appetite.

Second thing you noticed was how the room had been sectioned off into areas dedicated to various nations and their cuisine. There was a French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese area each decorated with flags and photographic images.

So which nationality to chose? Our group of six outdoor geeks migrated to Russia. Why? Mounds of caviar, plates of smoked fish, some cabbage creation, platters of rye toast and best of all an ice sculpture with spigot spewing and never ending stream of Stoli. That’s right Stoli, endless Stoli.

For some reason, Russia wasn’t very popular so we were soon stuffed and bombed and praising Gore for their efforts at promoting U.S.-Russia relations with food and booze.

But there was more.  A loudspeaker announcement directed attention to a stage at one end of the food-o-rama where a group of musicians were setting up. One of them stepped forward to a mic and thanked everyone for coming, was everyone having a good time (drunken roar followed) and them, “think of a hot humid evening in Philadelphia in July and the music of Grover Washington, jr filling the air,” and on walked said smooth jazz sax man Washington and transported my group not to Philly but to Minsk.