The Extraordinary Italian Taste made its way to San Francisco kicking off a year that sees – once again – Italy as one of the leading countries in the food industry.
The winter edition of the 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 Midwest, in order to increase the opportunities for companies present at the Italian pavilion. By hosting more than fifty companies and being one of the biggest in the whole show, the Italian Pavilion proved the relevance of the US market for Italian 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 Germany and France. Italian food and drinks have a big hit in North America, as shown by the 1.6% increase in the first half of 2017 and a 3.9% increase in 2016, compared with 2015. Olive oil (+3%), pasta (+2,4%), cheeses (-0,2%), and water (+12.2%) are still the best-selling items, whereas sauces and other condiments are becoming more popular, with a double digit growth in the last few years.
Phil Kafarakis, President of the Specialty Food Association, honored Italy during a special reception for Italian companies’ representatives at the St Francis Westin Hotel. Mr Kafarakis 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 for the Winter Fancy Food 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 products and the tradition built by Italian producers, and the show became an important opportunity to remind everybody that these efforts are still in place.”It is important for Italian companies to be here because not only can they showcase what they produce, but they can also learn and understand what’s new in the world of food,” Italian Consul General Lorenzo Ortona 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 succeed because more and more Americans are now aware of the quality of food, the sustainability 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 importance of the connections between California and Italy, the Consul underlined that “Today, Italians are discovering the potential of the West Coast, and are opened to research new products. We are in California where the quality of food is great, so is the understanding of Italian food. Nevertheless, more Italians want now to learn what’s new here and what to learn from it, while they keep fighting against Italian-sounding 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 innovative 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 company decided to organize a gathering for distributors and buyers at the Yacht Club in San Francisco and directly share what’s coming 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 represent the Italian quality in truffle sourcing and processing. We talked to Sabrina Notarnicola who is VP of Marketing at Urbani Truffles and Truffle Lab in New York City. “2018 will bring a lot of educational programs. 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, she underlined how “all the 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 businesses.”
As the world’s largest truffle distributor, the Urbanis controls seventy percent of the world’s truffle trade, including 700 different products like oils and sauces. Ninety percent of white truffles are sold to the fresh market and only ten percent are used in preserved products. Yet, the white truffle festival originated in Alba, Piedmont, never thought of doing anything similar 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 seminar, they try to give people an experience that includes this special item.
Today, the Group is led by Paolo and Bruno Urbani, direct descendant brothers of the Urbani founders. “As young businessmen – Mrs Notarnicola continued – they decided to start the so-called inoculation of the truffle trees. They basically produce 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.”
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