Mar. 7, 2013
FoodEx : The largest food & beverage trade show in all of Asia.
We got an early start by grabing a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Masakazu Koizumi and his sister Chieko met us in the lobby and then drove us to the nearby area of Chiba City to attend the 2013 FoodEx Trade show held at the Makuhari Messe International Convention Center. The drive took a little over an hour. We passed a very familiar place along the way when I noticed the distinct form of Space Mountain and the spires to Cinderella's Castle. Tokyo Disneyland was right off of the freeway.
We arrived about an hour before FoodEx would open to the trade attendee public. Darrell and I had exhibitor credentials as guests of Luca and Divino, which allowed us to enter early. Darrell, Chieko, and Masakazu went inside to meet at the Divino booth, and I walked the length of the venue to find the Press room to get my prearranged press credential, which would allow me to shot video and photos inside the halls.
Here's a FoodEx promo video I edited from my footage.
I've had the great pleasure of attending many food & beverage trade shows, events, and festivals over my 35 year career. FoodEx Japan is definitely one of the best, most comprehensive food & beverage trade shows in the world. We grazed through the venue halls all day, from an hour before the opening to just near closing. We saw, smelled, touched, sipped, and tasted a multitude of products.
The were many interesting products at the show. Here was one of the standouts: Sustainably produced Kopi Luwak coffee from a company in Indonesia. Kopi Luwak comes from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an area well known for its quality coffee. Also native to the area is a small civet-like mammal called a Paradoxurus. The locals call them luwaks, which some mistake for a lemur. These little mammals live in the trees and one of their favorite foods is the red, ripe coffee cherry. They eat the cherries whole. After the cherries are eaten they go through unique changes because of the animal's digestive process. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee. This process combined with the animals natural selection of the better cherries leads to a coffee which is said to be like no other. It has a rich, heavy flavor with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, musty and exotic. The body is almost syrupy and it's very smooth. Kopi Luwak is rare and expensive, because it relies on having to find the spent bean, and is limited to what the animals actually eat and excrete. Sunvirtue, a company from Taiwan, has created a method of sustainably raising civets and feeding them quality coffee cherries. Now there is no searching, and the beans are easily collected when the animals are done digesting. It will be interesting to see if this business model takes hold. Upon sampling this coffee, which has sold for up to $10 a cup in California sourced through traditional supply, I found it to be a good balanced coffee, definitely rich with earthy tones and hints of chocolate. Like with all things, it will boil down to affordability I think.
Ground zero, at the FoodEx show, was Luca's Divino booth, where we all gathered to taste some of the wines they were showing. We met some new friends, and also greeted a few friends we already knew. It was good to see Nao Yoshida and his son Kazu, who came to attend the show. Kazu had to return to California the next day, but Nao-san stayed to celebrate Lucio's birthday with us two days later.
JETRO, The Japan External Trade Organization, is a non-profit Japanese government related organization that promotes trade and investment opportunities for business and companies in the United States and Japan. They had one of the most culturally diverse exhibit in the show. Their booths were represented by very unique products from very interesting countries.
The size of FoodEx Japan alone was something to contend with. The total square footage of the three main halls alone is over the size of eight football fields. One has to be ready for a great deal of walking in order to take in all that FoodEx has to offer. There is also another very important consideration when attending any large trade show, One has to be very aware of what they are tasting. Because of the vast number and extreme diversity of products to taste, going from gummy bears, to prosciutto, to tequila, to sweet wine, to foie gras, to pistachio gelato can be hard on the stomach and the head. I had to be much more strategic with my tasting at FoodEx than I have been at other past shows. Starting off the day with a Pepcid and a glass of water sure helped.
As we live in California, we might tend to suffer from occasional FGDS, (Foie Gras deprivation syndrome), coming upon the booth of Rougie was quite a treat. We were amazed at how liberal they were in handing out samples.
A Hungarian Mangalitsa Wooly Pig...
Staggeringly huge and a guaranteed sensory overload experience would be two ways to sum up all that FoodEx is. Anyone in the food and beverage industry would certainly benefit from a visit to FoodEx Japan. Here is a link to the FoodEx Japan Website.
We left the Makuhari Messe International Convention Center and made the drive back to Tokyo. Darrell wanted to show me the view from the Ginza Sky Lounge, which is a bar lounge in the round that sits above Tokyo station. Masa dropped us off and would meet us later. The Sky Lounge slowly rotates 360 degrees. We had a cocktail and watched all the trains coming and going from the station. We also some golf enthusiasts driving golf balls into the nets of the driving range just below us when the lounge swung around and over them.
We left Ginza Sky Lounge and headed to a special restaurant for dinner. It was another favorite of Masa and Chieko. Jubako is a restaurant which has been in business for 220 years and specializes in Unagi (eel), so most of the dishes were fresh water or salt water eel. In 1955, the restaurant was moved from it's original location in Asakusa to a traditional Japanese-style house in Akasaka, where it still is today. The restaurant features private rooms and guests can enjoy views of the Japanese garden and service dressed in traditional kimono.
We started out with a refresher of draft beer. The first dish was composed of scallop and sea butterfly baby squid. The following dish was literally like a foie gras of eel liver, which were grilled and served yakitori style. It was simply delicious! We were also served Koi in miso soup, sea eel shioyaki , grilled unagi with a soy based sauce, and picked vegetables. For dessert, a Japanese version of an ice cream sandwich.
It was a long, tiring day. but a very satisfying one. I've walked a good number of trade shows during the course of my career. FoodEx Japan likely takes the walking mileage crown. Dinner was delicious, and special for me because Unagi is one of my favorite things to eat. It was back to the hotel to turn in for the night.
~CLICK HERE: to continue to the next day~