Chefs at two prestigious hotels recently demonstrated holiday menus featuring U.S. pork at holiday season pork cooking events coordinated by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). The cooking demonstrations help publicize the positive aspects of U.S. pork and educate consumers on its preparation and versatility.

The events were held at the Ritz Carlton Osaka and the Akasaka Price Hotel in Tokyo. The well-known chefs at the two hotels, as well as consumers who attended the events, had positive things to say about the U.S. pork served and were impressed with the taste and quality, according to USMEF Japan Director Greg Hanes.

Chef Imoto of the Ritz Carlton introduced three recipes made with U.S. pork, while Chef Fukui of the Akasaka Price Hotel prepared six recipes using U.S. pork cuts.

“Both of the chefs were complimentary of U.S. pork during their presentations,” said Hanes. “Having them work with USMEF on these workshops certainly helped change perceptions of U.S. pork and helped promote its positive image to both hotel chefs and a large consumer audience in Japan.”

Seventy people attended the Osaka event, while about 60 attended in Tokyo. Media representatives from a trade journal and a local Osaka newspaper who attended the event are expected to run positive articles about the event, further expanding the reach of these activities.

The cooking events were promoted via the USMEF Japan Web site and newspaper publicity. There were more than 250 applicants for the 70 Osaka spots.

Through October 2006, more than 272,000 metric tons of U.S. pork and pork variety meat worth more than $844.8 million had been exported to Japan, the leading market in value for U.S. pork and pork variety meat

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –

The following photos are available with this release:

Photo 1 – Chef Imoto of the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo demonstrated three recipes using U.S. pork to educate consumers on its preparation and versatility. Diners at the Ritz Carlton restaurant were able to taste these U.S. pork dishes during the holiday season.

Photo 2 – Chef Fukui of the Akasaka Price Hotel in Osaka prepared six recipes using U.S. pork cuts at a USMEF holiday cooking seminar to help consumers understand how to cook with U.S. pork. More than 250 people signed up for the 70 seminar seats.

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