Hong Kong is considered the culinary capital of Asia. In fact, the Hong Kong Tourism Board highlights the best chefs with the "Best of the Best Culinary Award" each year.

This year culinary experts chef Kurt Fleischfresser, a two-time finalist in the prestigious American Culinary Gold Cup Competition and a "regular" SUSTA promotion chef, and award-winning chef Joseph Royer, displayed their masterful culinary skills not at the award ceremonies, but in a set of SUSTA foodservice seminars promoting southern cuisine in the East.

A seminar held June 29-30, 2004, at the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel showcased foodservice products from the SUSTA region. On the afternoon of June 29, chefs, restaurant owners and food and beverage managers were invited to attend the seminar, where chefs Kurt and Joseph incorporated southern ingredients into each one of their unique southern masterpieces.

Companies that donated products for the event included Friesland Foods, the Hong Kong agent for Tabasco Sauces, and Telford International, the Hong Kong agent for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. On June 30, importers, distributors and hotel and restaurant purchasing managers were invited to the seminar, with more than 90 in attendance.

The culinary expertise of chefs Kurt and Joseph was also in demand in China, where they participated in two USDA Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) promotions. A southern food promotion in Guangzhou was scheduled around the Food and Hotel South China Show. The promotion featured a "Chef Salon" with cooking demonstrations highlighting products from the SUSTA region. The second event in Shanghai featured the duo in a "U.S. Independence Week" promotion at the Marriott Hongqiao.

A follow-up to this promotion will take place next year. The chefs will again put on a menu promotion and hopefully utilize more products from the southern U.S. SUSTA expects that the menu promotion will be expanded to include other hotels. U.S. companies can participate by providing product samples including ingredients, meats and seafood.