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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 8 Trade Show Buzz An influx of first-time exhibitors and companies returning from a Market hia- tus is expected to bring some 600 new suppliers to the summer 2014 edition of NY NOW™, the Market for Home + Lifestyle, August 16-20 at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Pier 94. These newcomers will be among more than 2,800 total exhibit- ing companies presented throughout NY NOW's four Collections: HOME, LIFESTYLE, HANDMADE and NEW! "Exhibitor interest is at an all-time high," said Christian Falkenberg, NY NOW Director and GLM Senior Vice President. "At this pace, we expect to in- crease the number of new-to-market re- sources from the usual 400 companies to a record 600 companies returning or mak- ing their NY NOW debut this August." While some 200 of these newcomers will be concentrated at Pier 94 within NY NOW's NEW! Collection, new-to-market and returning exhibitors will be well-rep- resented in all four NY NOW collections. The NY NOW HOME Collection, lo- cated on Level 3 of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, showcases more than 1,000 suppliers in two sections: Home Furnishings + Textiles and Tabletop + Gourmet Housewares. Notable newcom- ers and returning companies in this col- lection include Arte Italica, Bella Notte ® Linens Inc., Claude Dozorme Cutlery, Modern History, Natural Curiosities, Noir Furniture, Pine Cone Hill, Sagaform and Tony Wais Design. NY NOW's LIFESTYLE collection, lo- cated on Level 1 of the Javits Center, showcases more than 1,100 exhibitors featuring a wide range of products in four sections: Baby + Child, Gift, Personal Ac- cessories and Personal Care + Wellness. Notable newcomers to the LIFESTYLE Collection include Anjolie Ayurveda, Canvas Kudos, Echo France, Elf Magic LLC, Jacob Jones, Manhattan Portage, Modern Apothecary Inc., PAPYRUS, Tree Hopper Toys and ZoLi Inc. The NY NOW HANDMADE collection is comprised of 150 exhibitors in Global Design in the Javits Center's Level 4 River Pavilion, as well as 350 exhibitors in Designer Maker in the Javits Center North. Notable new exhibitors in this collection include Amelie Mancini, Chopstick Art, Curly Girl Design©, dot2knot, Lisa Neimeth Ceramics, Mushmina, New York Stoneware and Nicole Aquillano Ceramics. Finally, NY NOW's NEW! Collection will present some 200 first-time exhibitors in all home and lifestyle categories at Pier 94. Newcomers for the summer 2014 Market include Bison Bookbinding & Letterpress, Kitty Keller Designs, Obisugi Design, The Giving Keys and YOXO, among others. NY NOW, the Market for Home + Lifestyle, will run Saturday, August 16 through Wednesday, August 20 at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Cen- ter and Passenger Ship Terminal Pier 94. NY NOW's four comprehensive collections, HOME, LIFESTYLE, HANDMADE and NEW! will encompass 100,000 products in more than 400 categories. Some 33,000 at- tendees from all 50 states and more than 80 countries worldwide are expected. For more information and registration, visit www.nynow.com. GN NY NOW to Showcase 600 New Exhibitors Spanning All Home and Lifestyle Categories sofi Awards Continued from PAGE 1 things," he said. "When you think of ideas, you always want to push yourself to try new things." Ansel concluded his address by urging show attendees to always push themselves to come up with new concepts and prod- ucts. "If you all in here have great ideas, I invite you all to come back next year with better ideas," he said. Lifetime Achievement Awards This marked the inaugural year for the Specialty Food Association's presentation of its Lifetime Achievement Awards. Five industry veterans were honored for their distinctive contributions in shaping the evolution of the specialty food industry from its incipience. Tony Matthews, President of Food from Britain was honored for his contributions to introducing American consumers to British specialty foods. According to the SFA, throughout his career, Matthews worked tirelessly to create meaningful, long-lasting partnerships between retailers in North America and manufacturers in the United Kingdom. One such retailer that Matthews con- vinced to start selling British foods was fellow Lifetime Achievement Award win- ner Russ Vernon, owner of Akron, Ohio's West Point Market. The SFA honored Ver- non for showing that the demand for spe- cialty food stretches beyond the East Coast and into America's interior. West Point Market has been bringing high-qual- ity gourmet foods to consumers in the Midwest for over 75 years. Mario Foah, founder of Foah Interna- tional, was honored by the SFA as one of the founding members of the organization and a former president. In his acceptance speech, Foah recounted the precise mo- ment when he and a few other entrepre- neurs conceived of the idea for the SFA while eating at a luncheonette on Lexing- ton Ave. in New York City. "Tonight we must honor all those original members of the Specialty Food Association who worked so hard, who gave so much of themselves and were successful in making the dream of a few, today's reality of so many," he said. Two individuals were honored posthu- mously at the awards. The son of Harold T. Anderson, who founded Haddon House Food Products, accepted his father's award, stating, "We all have a lot to be thankful for, and we all should feel very proud of the industry we represent." Max Ries' son sim- ilarly accepted his father's award for found- ing Reese Finer Foods, telling the audience that his father, "disrupted the industry through his skill." sofi Awards The 2014 sofi Awards were presented to winners in 32 distinct categories. Accord- ing to the SFA, this year's contest was the biggest in the 42-year history of the honors. Companies submitted an astonishing 2,737 products for consideration. An expert panel was tasked with whittling down the prod- ucts to just 125 finalists. Then, to deter- mine the winners, 275 select buyers at the show cast their votes on which products they deemed worthy of sofi Gold. This year's sofi Award winners spanned the entirety of the specialty food industry. In the coveted Outstanding New Product category, East Hampton Gourmet Foods beat out nine other finalists for the win with its Lentil Rice Crispbread with Sesame and Pink Salt. Wozz! Kitchen Cre- ations had the distinction of being the only double winner at this year's awards, triumphing in the Outstanding Condi- ment category for its Triple Ale Onion Sa- vory Spread and in the Outstanding Salad Dressing category for its Ginger Soy Infu- sion Dressing. Other winners included Dave's Gourmet (Outstanding Jam, Pre- serve, Honey or Nut Butter), Wagshal's Imports (Outstanding Meat, Pâté or Seafood), Bellwether Farms (Outstanding Cheese or Dairy Product) and Fromagerie Belle Chevre (Outstanding Dessert or Dessert Topping). Dori Ross, the owner of Vermont-based Tonewood Maple, was thrilled with her company's win in the prestigious Outstand- ing Product Line category. Ross attributed the award to the growing appreciation for maple products as a subcategory within the larger specialty food landscape. "I think it's the repositioning of maple in a new way – in a modern way," she said. "It's the sim- plicity of the product." "I think [initially] being recognized as fi- nalist in the Best New Product category [for Tonewood's Maple Cube] definitely gave us added exposure," Ross continued. "And now winning the gold for product line has really given us something we can leverage." In the Outstanding Hot Beverage cate- gory, teapigs took home the honor for its Liquorice and Peppermint beverage. "I know buyers like to look out for sofi Awards. It's a badge of honor, and the Spe- cialty Food Association has been very sup- portive. This is a great start for us," said Matthew Wood, teapigs' General Manager. "It's a good measure of how you're doing when you see people responding so well to the brand at the show." For a complete list of sofi Award finalists and winners, visit www.specialtyfood .com/sofi/finalists. GN New Sweetener, Advantame, Gains FDA Approval Ajinomoto North America, Inc. recently announced that Advantame, an innovative new sweetener, has successfully completed the food additive petition process for gen- eral use in foods and beverages according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Heightened attention to the importance of healthy body weight has significantly in- creased demand for ingredients that deliver a good, sweet taste without adding extra calories. The makers of Advantame claim that the product has a sweet, clean sugar- like taste. Because it is much sweeter than most low- and non-calorie sweeteners cur- rently available, the company anticipates the product will be a top candidate for food and beverage formulations. "We are all very excited about Advan- tame. The clean sugar-like taste means that it blends very well with sugar and other caloric sweeteners, providing food and bev- erage companies with an alternative that has meaningful nutritional advantages," said Brendan Naulty, Senior Vice President of Ajinomoto North America Inc. "Using a less caloric sweetener to deliver good-tast- ing foods and beverages is a real plus in today's marketplace." Advantame is made from vanillin and as- partame. Because of its sweetness, it will be needed only at very low levels in foods and beverages. The sweetener has very good stability under normal storage and han- dling conditions. Its general use approval means it will be allowed in foods and mixes ranging from tabletop sweeteners, powered soft drinks, carbonated drinks and desserts to chewing gums. Taste panel work shows that in some beverages, sweetness from caloric sweeteners may be reduced up to 30 percent with no difference in perceived fla- vor and sweetness with the addition of Ad- vantame. The U.S. follows Australia and New Zealand in its approval of Advantame as a general purpose sweetener. Final ap- provals in the European Union and Japan are pending. Information about FDA's approval may be found at http://1.usa.gov/1lBEclW (Fed- eral Register Notice) and www.fda.gov/For- Consumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm397711 .htm (FDA's consumer site). Ajinomoto Co. Inc. is a global manufac- turer of high-quality seasonings, processed foods, beverages, amino acids, pharmaceu- ticals and specialty chemicals. For many decades Ajinomoto has contributed to food culture and human health through wide- ranging application of amino acid tech- nologies. Today, the company is becoming increasingly involved with solutions for im- proved food resources, human health and global sustainability. GN

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