The biggest food circus is in town

Follow the smell of good food and gastronomic delights all the way to the World Trade Center in Pasay City where a thousand foodies, food enthusiasts and professionals are converging for one of the biggest annual food shows in the country, the 4th Manila Food and Beverages Exposition (MAFBEX 2010) organized by Worldbex Services International (WSI) in cooperation with De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.

The site is transformed into a huge carnival of delectable discoveries as exhibitors from all over the Philippines as well as other countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the US join this year’s event to show off their products. Aside from various food and drinks, visitors can also find housewares, industrial kitchen equipment, books, plants and herbal medicines, even t-shirts. The center has become a maze of amazing discoveries as suppliers unveil their latest products, franchisors attract potential business partners, and newcomers in the food industry give their products a trial run in the five-day festival. Those who snake their way through the huge labyrinth of food treats will not go hungry as exhibitors happily hand them chips, fruits, nuts, ice cream, iced tea, coffee, even Korean banana milk and magazines, all for free. Walk a few steps more and one is given a quick pasta-making demo, a flair bartending exhibition and a juice-making lesson. The air is abuzz with animated conversations between enthusiastic suppliers and captivated attendees. Student chefs from various culinary schools eagerly take in the cornucopia of new food ideas and compete in various categories of food preparations, table-setting and more. While MAFBEX has its regular exhibitors who have been joining the festival since 2006, there are newbies this year like Bubba’s Brew that’s testing their line of mixed tea drinks to get feedback from the attendees before they launch their food concept in Alabang. The same goes for El Buono Pizza which touts itself as the makers of the “world’s largest pizza" and which now delivers their signature giant 36-inch pizzas in selected areas in Makati, Mandaluyong and Paranaque. And then there is Sweetlink which, apart from bringing us Kyocera ceramic knives and Siliconezone products, is now the first in the country to introduce earth-friendly potato-ware. Called Taterware, the product line includes disposable and compostable plates made from potatoes. They also have shopping bags made from cornstarch and biodegradable polyester called Biobags, and coffee cups fashioned from 100% recycled materials. Sweetlink president Nelson Go shared that the first stocks of these go-green products arrived just last week, in time for the event. MAFBEX also presents a haven of business opportunites. Those interested in opening a food outlet can check out the attractive franchise offers of Marina Seafood Restaurant for either a full dine-in or a stall in the foodcourt. There's Magic Siomai that offers a basic start-up package of P65,000 for a foodcart. Meanwhile, those who would like to get into customized t-shirt printing can explore options with Graphic Edge, franchisors of Transfer It! For a P50,000 investment, one can have his own T-Shirt Factory. As a gallery of what the world has to offer, MAFBEX organized some booths under the flags of different countries. The Koreans had their noodle products and popular snacks and chips line. Samples of Korean ice cream sandwiches were gone in no time. Chinese sausages were cooked in front of delighted foodies as a seller hawks whole smoked chicken and smoked tea duck. A pavilion sponsored by the Indonesian embassy proudly displayed various teas, medications, soaps, and other health products alongside their country’s popular prawn crackers that were made fresh in front of the attendees. Not to be outdone are the Filipino stalls that presented various wines from Baguio, top-billed by the bignay wine, and the “designer" lambanog line called Lambalites from Candelaria, Quezon. The Philippine Food Inventors Society also had its own booth where Bobby Osido urged everyone to try the Herbosido Oil, a herbal medicine invented by his late father, Jose Osido. The herbal products are said to cure a number of ailments from asthma to back pain, constipation, insomnia, diabetes, and more. For those who are already in the restaurant business, there is a wide range of kitchen, bakery, packaging equipment as well as restaurant furniture, giveaways and disposable wares ready for stamping their logos and brand names. It’s a good time to strike a bargain with the suppliers by haggling for discounts on some of the equipment. MAFBEX also aims to be a source of information as there are scheduled lectures on food styling, catering, food preservation, even smart financial management. On the main stage, there are various competitions in table-setting, cake decorating, pasta cooking, and bread making. WSI founding chairman Joseph Ang says, “With MAFBEX, our goal was to further strengthen the food industry by providing the industry players, especially new entrepreneurs, with a venue to share information and ideas to enable them to come up with new and better products." With the huge number of participants and attendees, that goal seems to have been achieved. The expo expects to reach fever-pitch this weekend as word spreads about the interesting finds and novel food ideas that are laid out here for everyone to sample. So, take time off this week to go to MAFBEX (running from June 16-20). There are newfound experiences and discoveries to unravel for anyone and everyone who simply loves food. - GMANews.TV MAFBEX 2010 runs from June 16 to 20 (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.