Photos and commentary by Claire Reilly

Foodies and TV-to-live-expo-crossover fans braved the heat and descended on Sydney's Royal Hall of Industries today for the start of MasterChef Live – a three day show dedicated to cooking shows, appliances, foodstuffs, military recruitment and extending the ever-lucrative MasterChef brand to the absolute maximum.

The show features live demonstrations from chefs such as George Calombaris, Matt Moran and the delightful Maggie Beer as well as hands-on cooking classes, Junior MasterChef cooking sessions for kids and plenty of shopping opportunities. It also plays host to something known as the Mystery Box Theatre, which was a ticketed event shrouded in secrecy (and the more obvious shrouds of black curtains, through which the mic'd-up strains of media trained TV chefs could be heard).

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Although it was difficult to look past the commercialism that has almost sucked the marrow out of the MasterChef franchise, it was great to see some well known names in appliances on show at the event, including Blanco and Sharp.

Current.com.au was particularly impressed with the national marketing manager of Sharp, Mark Beard, who had donned an apron and was showing punters around the brand's stand, which had an impressive showing.

Serious appliance talk aside, we have compiled our favourite pictures from the event, which is open 9am to 6pm from today through until Sunday. Full details are available on the MasterChef Live website.

Sharp's product manager for whitegoods, Chasnyn Ousmand, product development officer, Jodie Campbell, and national marketing manager, Mark Beard.

Blanco had a presence at MasterChef Live with this Contestants Theatre.

Chef Maggie Beer making fresh mayonnaise at the Sharp Celebrity Chef 'How To' stand.

The show was full of live demonstrations and taste-testing opportunities.

Outside, where the temperature was roughly 400 Kelvin, there were food trucks and live street art painting shows.

The Veggie Patch food truck.

This stand, which was selling very realistic looking cupcakes made from soap, was a hit with kids.

"I want to learn how to cook and meet some celebrity chefs, but I also want to learn more about our country's armed forces and their involvement in international theatres of war. What is the right show for me?" MasterChef Live invites attendees to Yvan Eht Nioj.

How could you stay mad at the Navy? These two gents, who were spruiking the perks of being a chef for the Navy, were two of the nicest stand attendants at the show. This journalist was particular delighted that their chef uniforms featured anchors on the epaulettes.