Christmas follow-up

Store up on food items that are likely to cost more as the holiday seasons nears. That also means putting aside whatever you can save in order to lay out a festive spread. Not very easy to do, considering electricity and everything that comes with it leave consumers hardly coping, much less saving. But we are not completely hopeless. We recently went to two trade fairs, and with enough determination and luck, we could get into something that would give us the opportunity to earn and look forward to a good celebration.

The Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc. recently held "Kabuhayan 2005" National Livelihood Trade Fair which showcased products, from garments to food, produced in the various regions of the country, reviving a consciousness for what we have right here in our country. They are ready to do business with distributors in the big city and beyond. Most of them are working with their representatives in Congress and therefore potential distributors can get in touch with the Foundation.

The range of products showed how rich the country is in raw materials and talent. From processed food like dried fish produced in Pangasinan, Leyte, Rizal, Cavite, among others to beautifully crafted accessories such as bags from Bicol, the fair focused on the Filipino’s fast emerging spirit of enterprise coupled with creativity. Tinapa and daing are sold by Amanda’s Marine Products based in Balanga, Bataan (tel. (047) 237-1154). Grace Singson of Candon, Ilocos Sur carries longganiza, tapa and peanuts (tel 931-1242). We were particularly impressed with the bottled mussels produced by Jiabong Mussel Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Palo, Leyte We did not have much time to spend at the fair, but we were convinced that if anybody decides to distribute any of these products, that decision would be very fruitful.

Over at the World Trade Center, AsiaFood 2005 went on for three days under the auspices of Trade Information Marketing & Exhibitiions Inc. This was more for people who want to go into the manufacture of food items, since it showcased mostly machines for packaging, food processing, high-tech food service equipment and bulk sale of ingredients. It also featured cooking demonstrations and seminars on franchising.

The usual exhibitors were there–Unilever whose Best Foods’ expanded line includes premium pourable dressings, Continental sauces and gravies and Knorr professional cream soup. Magnolia Food Service introduced their new items–non-melt cheese, melting cheese, hotdog flavored melting cheese and cheese nuggets. Nestle encourages enterprising men and women to get onto their bandwagon and make money on their Food Services programs like putting up a scooping or snack section in a retail store. Philippine Foremost Milling Corp. calls itself "The Flour Authority" with various brands of flour–hard wheat, cake, all-purpose and custom made. Manila tel 255-0096.

Two new exhibitors are Pizza Pedrico’s, tel 713-2568 and Schnack Hotdogs and Burgers, tel 866-4237. Both offer attractive franchise deals. And since they are comparatively new, maybe one can be the first in a district or area, which would be an advantage.

All types of machines and equipment from various parts of the region offer facilities from food wraps to refrigeration systems. DYD can set up insulated panels and doors, tunnel freezers and IQF processing systems. They also have an automatic poultry processing line and slaughtering equipment (tel 726-7455). Urschel, based in Singapore, provides a full line of very high-tech, high capacity slicers, dicers, shredders and milling equipment. The Twin Drum Spiral Oven doubles cooking control, with complete and independent control of each drum’s cooking environment, to allow precise following recipes and therefore producing consistently uniform quality products.

We met a young lady from Singapore who was manning the Isomalt booth. Isomalt is a unique sugar substitute, great for sugar-free fanatics. The flyer says it is pleasantly sweet, low in calories and kind to teeth. Among the products with Isomalt are Ricola, Halls, Meiji, Wrigleys and Morinaga.

Most of the above are for those going full scale into the food industry. The rest who simply want a home-based money-making enterprise for the coming holidays might want to check the short courses offered by Cooking Basics Culinary Studio at the Vivere Suites in Filinvest, Alabang (tel 771-0082). For the little ones, check out Vicky Veloso Barrera’s Tiny Kitchen Saturday classes (tel 410-2279).

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