Having had such a wonderful experience with Pro Chile and their New York Office at the James Beard Awards, you can imagine how excited I was when asked to work with them at the National Association For the Specialty Food Trade Fancy Food Show 2005. I was brought on board to design a menu using some of the specialty Chilean products (that would be displayed at the show), and serve and execute a two hour cocktail party at the show for 150 people. To read an article (it's in Spanish) written by ProChile about this event click here.
This enourmous food event is held every year at the Jacob K. Javitzs Convention Center in New York City. As stated on the NASFT website, 19,000 - 32,000 attendees come to each of their shows. And more than 1,800 exhibitors from around the world display their products. If you would like to see pictures from the event click here.

You can read more about the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade here. Chile, at this event, had 15 exhibitors present. Some of the specialty items that were available to sample were Extra Virgin Avocado and Olive oils, Ulmo honey, preserved fruits, jams, anchovies, Chilean papaya "Carica". To download a PDF of the invitation with the menu click here.

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This past Thursday I attended the launch party for KOTO USA at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. There were about 100 culinary media and service professionals in attendance (a very awesome turn out).  KOTO (Know One, Teach One) was started by Jimmy Pham in the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi.  This organization has done some amazing work.  They take underprivileged teenagers off the streets and train them for a position in the hospitality industry. By giving them the proper training and tools, KOTO has had over 250 students that have completed the program and have had 100% placement for their students. These future Hospitality professional receive their training at KOTO's full service 150 seat restaurant (which originally started off as a sandwich shop) in Hanoi. Here is a clip about KOTO it was filmed by the BBC News Report

KOTO USA was founded by restaurant consultant and hospitality educator Neal Bermas, Ph.D (he was also my professor for restaurant management). KOTO USA will be supporting KOTO Hanoi financially and by offering it's expertise in education and will assist in the future expansion of the program throughout Southeast Asia.

Along with some of my colleagues, we volunteered our services for a silent auction. I donated a night of my time to cook dinner for four to the highest bidder.

Dumante Liqueur (a pistachio flavored liqueur from southern Italy) sponsored a recipe contest and the winners were selected that night 

Organizations such as Blue Smoke, Rosa Mexicano, Brooklyn Brewery, Dumante Liqueur, Oneida, Chefs Warehouse, Mai House and the Institute of Culinary Education donated food, staff and products to assist in this very special event.

Blue Smoke served their famous deviled eggs, pulled pork and brisket sandwiches.

Rosa Mexicano made their guacamole to order (they started this in New York and took the guacamole standard to the next level by preparing it table side at all their locations) they also poured the most refreshing frozen pomegranate margaritas I have ever tasted.  I tried them several times that evening to reaffirm my palate's position

Brooklyn Brewery poured their heavenly collection of beers. 

Stay tuned,  in January I'll share the menu and pictures of what I prepared for the winner.

P.S.  Unbeknownst to me, my fiancée bid on a Bar-Crawl in New York City with bar and cocktail aficionado John Henry. His company is called Pipe Line Brands.  As brand agents to many boutique, artisanal and small batch wines and spirits, Pipe Line Brands deals with the marketing, product education, sales, and they also run special events to get the word on the street about their products. 

The "Bar-Crawl" will be happening sometime in early December.  Make sure to come back to read about the who, what, where and how's of the evening.

Click here to read the official KOTO write up about the event.  Do you recognize the guy getting the Rosa Mexicano pomegranate margarita?