I’m not normally one for a food, beer or wine festival. The last time I went to one, I was a much younger man, and it centered around beer, bourbon and barbecue. I recall leaving the scene and thinking that if I ever wanted beer, bourbon or barbecue, it wasn’t while standing in long lines in a field in the searing heat.

I share this because I think someone’s point of view is important, and it was certainly in the back of my mind when my wife told me she had procured tickets to the Taste of Birkdale this past Saturday.

But I kept my trap shut, smiled and walked over to Birkdale on Saturday. Maybe the cool weather, sunshine and pleasant breeze put my mind in the right frame and opened me up to the possibility that I could like something I thought I didn’t, even at my age.

Because I’m here to tell you I loved it. Every minute.

This column exists to tell you about the things I love to eat at different places around Lake Norman. It’s not an easy thing to do — to eat at a bunch of restaurants and find the two or three things to recommend. And as my wife reminds me, I’m not too quick sometimes. But it occurred to me on the sunny plaza at Birkdale that a food festival is the perfect place to do that.

I learned another thing about myself on Saturday. I love, and I mean love, the citrus-marinated shrimp from Fin & Fino. It’s served cold with a slice of fennel, which usually masks the taste of a dish but in this case complements it perfectly. It comes with a Carolina cocktail sauce that’s nothing like a cocktail sauce, and it’s served on a flavored Saltine cracker that I don’t know how to describe other than yummy.

Each restaurant that participated featured a few dishes. I quite loved the poke bites from eeZ, served with a ginger sauce and wonton chips, the meatballs and polenta from North Italia, and everything from Bartaco, as always. But the plantains with gordita sauce were next level.

With all that food, you have to have something to wash it down with, and the open bar set up on the splash pad served up some cocktails that I did not recognize. But let me tell you, this beer drinker is confident enough in his own skin that I Googled the ingredients for a Hugo Gin Fizz after I polished off three of them in the shade.

Fin & Fin’s citrus marinated shrimp

I also loved the butternut squash bisque served with apple pico de gallo and crumble. The creative dish was prepared and served by students of the Community Culinary School of Charlotte, a nonprofit that trains adults facing barriers to long-term employment for jobs in the food service industry.

Once I made a few rounds — yes, it’s all you can eat — I made sure to stop back and visit my gurus at Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop for a little treat of key lime pie.

At the end of the event, attendees got to vote for their two favorite dishes. I won’t share mine because I believe what happens in a polling place should stay in a polling place. Who you vote for and how you vote are no one’s business.

But in the voting area, we had the honor of meeting Kelley Amundson, who provides childhood palliative care as the head of Piper’s Place, named after her daughter, who was diagnosed with Miller-Dieker syndrome at birth and died a short time later. Piper’s Place was one of the beneficiaries of the event and she plans to put the money toward building a new center.

It was a divine afternoon, sipping and snacking on amazing grub, meeting some great people and listening to Colby Dobbs perform on stage. Plus it’s always a fun day when I get to do it with my favorite lady in the world.

She even put up with me storing my fork in the back of my fishing cap in between tastings. Seemed reasonable to me. Where would you store a fork between stations? Next year, I might get out the drill, pop a hole in one of forks at home, put it on a lanyard and hang it around my neck.

By all accounts, the Taste of Birkdale was a big success, and it’ll be back for years to come. I know I’ll be back. The thing about getting older is that you realize maybe it’s time to check back to make sure the opinions you formed when you were younger are still valid today.

While I normally tell you to let ’em know old Cloyd sent you, I’m not sure that works when you visit a food festival. People might think you’re a little weird.

If you see me next year, please say hi. I’ll be the one with the fork around my neck, Hugo Fizz in hand, looking for that citrus-marinated shrimp from Fin & Fino.