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Gourmet News March 2014

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General News BRIEFS GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 2 International Home + Housewares Show Sold Out for 2014 Exhibit space at the 2014 International Home + Housewares Show sold out almost 10 weeks before opening day. The show begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 15 and closes at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18. "This is the earliest the Show has been sold out on exhibit space and is a sign of how important this world-class marketplace is to IHA member suppliers," said Phil Brandl, International Housewares Association President and CEO. "We look forward to bringing the industry together at the premier housewares trade event." This year's show will host more than 2,100 exhibitors from around the world, including 400 first time exhibitors. Attendees at the show will also find Savor Home, a revitalized gourmet food and specialty products category. Savor Home will be filled with design-inspired wine accessories, gourmet food products and home entertaining themes. SBN Local Food Trade Show Comes to Boston Join the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts for the third Local Food Trade Show connecting wholesale buyers and producers of local food. The show will take place March 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Northeastern University's Curry Student Center in Boston. Participants at the show will include restaurants, retailers, school systems, health care institutions, local food growers and producers from throughout New England who are interested in joining the growing trend of sourcing locally. The SBN Local Food Trade Show will include open floor trading as well as a seminar series addressing best practices around some of the most pressing barriers to specialty crop sales. Topics covered will include volume/aggregation, certification/liability and cost. For more information and to register for this year's event, visit http://bostonlocalfood.org. Women Chefs and Restaurateurs Conference to Feature "The Art of Keeping Green" Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, an organization dedicated to educating, supporting and mentoring female culinary professionals with a focus on supporting young females entering the foodservice industry will hold its 21st annual conference, "The Art of Keeping Green," at the Intercontinental hotel in Chicago from March 9 to March 11. This year, the conference will explore green topics—both environmental and financial—that are of particular relevance to women in the culinary field. The WCR Conference will feature breakout sessions, cooking demos, mixology tastings, educational seminars and restaurant dine-arounds at Chicago hot spots. Keynote addresses will be delivered by top industry leaders, including Chicago restaurateur Rohini Dey of Vermillion. In addition, the event will feature book signings, a silent auction, a celebrity culinary competition and a formal gala reception and awards dinner. For more information and to purchase tickets to attend the 21st Annual WCR Conference, visit www.womenchefs.org. Good Food Awards Honor the Best in Specialty Food and Sustainability BY ZACH CALVELLO The annual Good Food Awards recognize the best and brightest American food pro- ducers in the gourmet industry. The awards celebrate not only great tasting foods, but foods that are produced responsibly, taking into account craftsmanship and sustain- ability. In the competition's fourth year, 130 winners were selected in 10 categories, in- cluding beer, charcuterie, cheese, choco- late, coffee, confections, pickles, preserves, spirits and oil. The awards were presented at a ceremony held at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts on January 16. In total, 130 specialty food companies from 32 states were feted by this year's Good Food Awards. The winners were se- lected from 1,450 entries. Honorees were determined following a blind taste testing conducted by 225 industry experts. The winners as chosen by taste were then sub- ject to a rigorous vetting process, con- ducted in an effort to verify they met the sustainability and social responsibility cri- teria that are a critical element of The Good Food Awards. Winners of this year's Good Food Awards included popular chocolate confectionery brand Guittard Chocolate Company, gour- met cheese mainstay Caves of Faribault, craft brewery Deschutes, jam producers Blake Hill Preserves and artisan charcuterie company Formaggio Kitchen. The team at Gordy's Pickle Jar were ec- static about their mention in the pickles category. A relatively new company, Wash- ington, D.C.-based Gordy's has been serv- ing great pickles and condiments to its customers for just over two years. Each recipe uses only fresh, local produce, and the company ensures its spices are culti- vated properly and responsibly. "It's an ex- tensive handmade process, and we pay attention to every detail," says Gordy's co- owner Sheila Fain. This is Gordy's Pickle Jar's second time winning at the Good Food Awards, hon- ored this year for the company's Sweet Pep- per Relish. "Winning a second time does not make it any less exciting," says Sheila. "It is certainly an honor being selected over the 1,400 other entries." Spokane, Wash.-based coffee company Roast House, was equally impressed with its 2014 Good Food Award. Roast House is a micro-roaster that takes great pride in providing organic-certified farm to cup cof- fee. The employees at Roast House go out of their way to partner with only the best farmers, ensuring that they are sourcing ex- ceptional coffee beans. That is what Roast House brought to the competition, where it was honored in the coffee category for its Batzchocola Guatemalan blend. Roast House founder and owner Deborah DiBernardo is very well known in the Spokane community for giving unparallelled service to her customers. DiBernardo also extends her services, as well as her coffee, to many community events, providing coffee for biking and running events held around town. "We like to keep our marketing di- rect," said DiBernardo. For her, there is no means more direct than personal interac- tion. Being a bicyclist herself, Deborah loves going to these events and interacting with the same community that makes Roast House such a unique micro-roaster. Roast House operates with a keen atten- tion to sustainability, something the Good Food Awards highly values. "Sustainability is something we have always been doing and will continue to do," said DiBernardo. All Roast House products are completely bio-friendly, from their packaging to the coffee itself. DiBernardo is even looking into ways to capture the small amount of heat lost during production, making sus- tainability just as much a part of her busi- ness as is her coffee. For a complete list of winners of the 2014 Good Food Awards, visit www.good- foodawards.org. GN British Entrepreneurs Plan to Farm Specialty Produce in London Underground Tunnels Two entrepreneurs, Richard Ballard and Steven Dring, have teamed up with Miche- lin-starred chef Michel Roux, Jr. to create a working farm in an extensive tunnel network beneath London's Northern Line. The sub- terranean farm, which will start trading later this year, will produce a range of micro- herbs, shoots, miniature vegetables and other delicacies that will be sold to restaurants, su- permarkets and wholesalers. The tunnels will provide 2.5 acres of growing space. The tunnels sit beneath the Northern Line near Clapham North tube station in London. Specially designed structures to house the three-layer growing platforms are currently being constructed in Yorkshire. Growing trials have been conducted over the last 18 months in the tunnels and are still underway. The farm will be carbon neutral, utilizing special low energy LED bulbs and an inte- grated hydroponics system. One hundred feet of earth above the tunnels keep temper- atures steady at around 16 degrees centigrade all year round. Any energy needs will be ful- filled from green suppliers, and the proxim- ity of the tunnels to New Covent Garden market and London's many restaurants will keep food miles to a minimum. In addition, special filters keep the air in the tunnels free of pests, eliminating the need for pesticides. "When I first met these guys I thought they were absolutely crazy," said Michel Roux Jr. "But when I visited the tunnels and sampled the delicious produce they are already growing down there I was blown away. The market for this produce is huge." Richard Ballard and Steven Dring hatched the idea two years ago after lengthy debates about how to achieve a car- bon-free economy and how to deal with the pressures of urban population growth. Since then, they have been working out how to bring their vision to reality. "Steve and I are thrilled to be close to get- ting Growing Underground underway. We've been experimenting for months," said Ballard. "Now that we've secured the site, we're kicking off a crowdfunding cam- paign … We have a detailed business plan, and we've already had lots of interest from private investors. We're confident that in- vestors of all sizes will see a significant re- turn on their investment. Integrating farming into the urban environment makes a huge amount of sense, and we're delighted that we're going to make it a reality." "There is no 'could,' 'might' or 'maybe' about our underground farm. We will be up and running and will be supplying produce later this year," he added. Full scale work on the farm will com- mence in March, and the first 'Growing Un- derground' produce will hit restaurants and shops by late summer this year. Initial crops will include a range of exotic herbs and shoots, including pea shoots, rocket, red amaranth, mizuna, broccoli, garlic chives, red vein sorrel, mustard leaf, radish, coriander and Thai basil. Edible flowers and miniature vegetables will also be grown. Stage two crops will include her- itage tomato varieties and mushrooms. The project recently initiated a crowd- funding campaign, giving investors of all sizes the chance to buy a stake in the project from as little as £10. Those interested in in- vesting can visit www.crowdcube.com/ investment/zero-carbon-food-13724. The company will be seeking crowdfunding in- vestments through the end of March. GN

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