PARIS, FRANCE – The USA Rice booth at SIAL Paris, the flagship event for the global food and beverage industry, opened here last Saturday welcoming traders and food professionals from around the globe. SIAL Paris encompasses eleven halls covering ten food industry sectors, showcasing the best of what the food and beverage industry has to offer.
There were 146 exhibitors in the USA Pavilion this year including USA Rice, and more than 7,500 exhibitors in total. Nearly 300,000 food and beverage industry professionals attended, representing 205 countries and more than 400,000 products and innovations.
“We were excited to return to SIAL Paris for the first time in many years,” said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, who was in attendance. “It was an excellent opportunity to connect with buyers from all over the world, particularly Europe and the Middle East, and to share with them and the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service the great work being done to maintain and improve the industry’s sustainability efforts.”
On Monday, USA Rice worked with Chef Cathleen Clarity to host a cooking demonstration using U.S.-grown long grain, medium grain, and wild rice. Chef Clarity created three recipes – jambalaya, a wild rice salad, and rice pudding – that highlighted the delicious flavor, quality, and versatility of U.S. rice for the 150 people who watched the demo and then snapped up all the samples in sight.
USA Rice also hosted a reception welcoming more than 50 VIP guests including current and potential buyers from across the region as well as USDA/FAS staff. USDA FAS Counselor for France David Leishman provided welcoming remarks, and on the agenda were presentations by two USA Rice members, Mark Holt, chair of the policy arm of the Subcommittee for Europe, Africa, and Middle East Trade, and Derek Alarcon, chair of the Subcommittee’s promotion arm. Their presentations highlighted the strong incoming crop of all types of rice, as well as the U.S. rice industry’s longtime and ongoing sustainability efforts.
"Touching base with our trade contacts shows commitment to our markets and is an excellent way of meeting new contacts throughout the entire region," said Alarcon. "The show also provided a great opportunity to share our sustainability messaging, a key concern for many of the importers and consumers who attended the show."