L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano T he Extraordinary Ital- i a n T a s t e m a d e i t s way to San Francisco k i c k i n g o f f a y e a r that sees - once again - I t a l y a s o n e o f t h e l e a d i n g countries in the food industry. T h e w i n t e r e d i t i o n o f t h e Fancy Food Show came back to the West Coast and became an opportunity for companies from almost all regions of Italy to both launch their new products and showcase well-known ones to distributors and retailers amid culinary workshops, cooking sessions, and much more. The Italian Trade Agency in New York invited to the show fifteen buyers and importers from the East Coast and the Mid- west, in order to increase the opportunities for companies pre- sent at the Italian pavilion. By hosting more than fifty compa- nies and being one of the biggest in the whole show, the Italian Pavilion proved the relevance of t h e U S m a r k e t f o r I t a l i a n exporters. 2017 ended with a big plus on the exports of Italian products abroad (+4%) with the US representing today the third destination country, after Ger- many and France. Italian food a n d d r i n k s h a v e a b i g h i t i n North America, as shown by the 1.6% increase in the first half of 2017 and a 3.9% increase in 2 0 1 6 , c o m p a r e d w i t h 2 0 1 5 . Olive oil (+3%), pasta (+2,4%), c h e e s e s ( - 0 , 2 % ) , a n d w a t e r (+12.2%) are still the best-sell- ing items, whereas sauces and other condiments are becoming more popular, with a double d i g i t g r o w t h i n t h e l a s t f e w years. Phil Kafarakis, President of the Specialty Food Association, honored Italy during a special reception for Italian companies' representatives at the St Francis W e s t i n H o t e l . M r K a f a r a k i s underlined how Italians' strong passion and love for food has always made the difference in the industry. "We are pleased to have Italy as our main partner f o r t h e W i n t e r F a n c y F o o d Show," Mr Kafarakis added. "American consumers today are looking for authentic foods with taste and exceptional quality. These features are highlighted by Italian companies that are presenting products from all their regions." The Italian government is now, more than ever, committed to protect authenticity of prod- ucts and the tradition built by Italian producers, and the show became an important opportunity to remind everybody that these SERENA PERFETTO 2018 food trends put Italian taste in the spotlight continued - they decided to start the so-called inoculation of the truffle trees. They basically pro- duce truffles that everybody can plant in their garden. It depends on the soil of course, yet - in five years from now - 90% of those plants will give us truffles. That means that chefs who love using products from their gardens or rooftops can now bring truffles from farm straight to their table. Right now, we have worked on thousands of plants and we'll have to wait to see them fully grown. But one of the best parts of this project is that, while we wait for the truffle to come, we can get mushrooms. This means that nothing goes wasted, not in the land, nor in the fridge or in the kitchen." In the middle, Italian Consul General Lorenzo Ortona, Italian Trade Agency US Director Maurizio Forte, and President of Specialy Food Assocation Phil Kafarakis at the opening of the Winter SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY efforts are still in place."It is important for Italian companies to be here because not only can they showcase what they pro- duce, but they can also learn and understand what's new in the world of food," Italian Con- s u l G e n e r a l L o r e n z o O r t o n a said. The biggest challenge for this coming year is to keep up with the amazing numbers of 2017: "There is still a large space for Italian brands to suc- ceed because more and more Americans are now aware of the quality of food, the sustainabili- ty of agriculture, and the origins of products", Consul General added. "One of our goals is to find ways to distribute these products also in new markets." When asked about the impor- t a n c e o f t h e c o n n e c t i o n s between California and Italy, the Consul underlined that "Today, I t a l i a n s a r e d i s c o v e r i n g t h e potential of the West Coast, and a r e o p e n e d t o r e s e a r c h n e w products. We are in California w h e r e t h e q u a l i t y o f f o o d i s great, so is the understanding of Italian food. Nevertheless, more I t a l i a n s w a n t n o w t o l e a r n what's new here and what to learn from it, while they keep fighting against Italian-sound- ing foods that are not Italian, but they are still considered as such." The Italian food industry this year will follow three keywords: sustainability, distribution, and innovation. And talking about the importance of being innova- tive in the industry, the Urbani family - one of most known companies in the truffle business - also joined the show. Instead of setting up a booth, the compa- ny decided to organize a gather- ing for distributors and buyers at the Yacht Club in San Francisco and directly share what's com- ing next. Since its foundation in 1850 when Carlo first launched the business, the Urbani name has maintained its reputation of pre- eminence, and continues to rep- resent the Italian quality in truf- fle sourcing and processing. We talked to Sabrina Notarnicola w h o i s V P o f M a r k e t i n g a t Urbani Truffles and Truffle Lab in New York City. "2018 will bring a lot of educational pro- grams. It's not only about truffle anymore, we also see lots of interest in other foods. Caviar and organic foods are big now and we need to keep up with that." Regarding the food scene, s h e u n d e r l i n e d h o w " a l l t h e young chefs are now moving to San Francisco and the Bay Area in general. The East Coast is saturated, whereas the West Coast seems to be the place where to run new food business- es." As the world's largest truffle distributor, the Urbanis controls seventy percent of the world's truffle trade, including 700 dif- ferent products like oils and sauces. Ninety percent of white truffles are sold to the fresh mar- ket and only ten percent are used in preserved products. Yet, the white truffle festival originated i n A l b a , P i e d m o n t , n e v e r thought of doing anything simi- lar in the US. That's why Urbani decided to get the lead for the white truffle in America and is now partnering with chefs in the country. Through any sort of educational program and semi- nar, they try to give people an experience that includes this special item. Today, the Group is led by Paolo and Bruno Urbani, direct d e s c e n d a n t b r o t h e r s o f t h e U r b a n i f o u n d e r s . " A s y o u n g businessmen - Mrs Notarnicola The Italian Pavilion Motto for 2018 Winter Fancy Show was The Extraordinary Italian Taste. Ph Angela De Cenzo

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