The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), represented by the Trade Section of the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto kicked off the first “Flavours of the Philippines” In-Store Promotion event of the year at PriceSmart Richmond, which ran from April 27 to May 3, 2018.

Flavors of the Philippines at PriceSmart Foods.

The event was made possible with the support and partnership of the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver, the Philippine Department of Tourism, Philippine Airlines, AFOD Ltd., APO Products Ltd., UNO Foods Inc., Corinthian Distributors Ltd., and PriceSmart Foods.

Hon. Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer welcomed everyone to the opening ceremony on 28 April 2018, with Hon. Teresa Wat, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, British Columbia Minister of State for Trade Hon. George Chow, Philippine Airlines Country Manager for the United States and Canada Mr. Allan Coo, and Save On Foods BC General Manager Mr. Paul Cope delivering their remarks.

Consul General Ferrer emphasized that the time is ripe for Filipino food to be recognized and celebrated by the Canadian palate. “Filipinos constitute close to 2% of Canada’s total population, making us a ‘visible minority’ within the country,” Ferrer said. “We would like to see this visibility translate to the shelves of the supermarkets, the menus of restaurants and the tables of Canadian homes.”
PriceSmart Richmond was abuzz with excitement and celebration on the event’s grand opening. Attendees were treated to a vibrant display of Philippine culture, with lively Filipino music and cultural performances, and even a raffle draw, with a lucky winner taking home a roundtrip ticket from Vancouver to Manila via Philippine Airlines.

The festivities continued throughout the week with colorful pallet displays, food tasting stations featuring various Philippine food products, cooking demonstrations of sumptuous Filipino dishes by Mama Sita’s, and big discounts on popular Filipino products, giving PriceSmart shoppers a small taste of the diverse flavours of the Philippines.

“The notion of what is mainstream is changing – Canadian consumers today are culturally diverse and open to a wide variety of food from different cultures,” said Senior Trade Commissioner Maria Roseni Alvero who spearheaded the Project. “It is the perfect time for Filipino food brands to penetrate the mainstream market and for Philippine cuisine to be elevated to the levels enjoyed by other internationally embraced Asian cuisine.”

“Flavours of the Philippines” at PriceSmart is the first of a series of In-Store Promotion events in Canada to be led by DTI this year to promote Filipino brands to Canadian consumers, preceding an In-Store Promotion at T&T Supermarket in Calgary, Alberta on June 8 to 10, 2018.