Pearl's Powder: September 2012

September 28, 2012

The Secret to Enjoying the Perfect Cup of Espresso from Daria Illy

A guest blog post from Darine Sabbagh*

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of personally meeting Daria Illy, the grand daughter of Francesco Illy, who started Illy Cafe and also invented the first automatic espresso machine for all of us to enjoy. Because Illy want to bring pleasure through their coffee, Daria explained to each of the attendees personally how a great shot of espresso should look like.

Coffee is an art

So here are her tips for the perfect cup of espresso and how to drink it:

Saudi HORECA 2012...Not as good as the Lebanese

Saudi HORECA is one of the region's largest trade show for both the hospitality and food and beverage service industry in Saudi Arabia. (For Arabic: Check Alsharq Article http://www.alsharq.net.sa/2012/09/15/488657 للعربي)

International Coffee and Tea Festival-Dubai

October 30 to November 2, 2012, at the Meydan Grandstand and Convention Centre in Dubai

Coffee and tea consumption in the Arab world has more than tripled over the last decade with the UAE registering an 85 per cent increase during the last three years alone.

Last year, the world consumed more than eight million metric tons of coffee -- that's 2.4 percent more than the previous year. According to the latest coffee statistics from the International Coffee Organization (ICO), on a global scale, about 1.4 billion cups of coffee are poured a day.

Jose Settee, Head of Operations at the ICO said; “It's that new consumers are being turned onto the bean. Even when times are hard, people still drink coffee. And the growth in coffee consumption these days occurs much more in emerging markets, which are bearing up much better under this economic turbulence than in the developed world.”

Vintage Vs Current Food Ads

"If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative." -David Ogilvy

I am always curious to keep tracking of food ads. Yes ads are there for persuasion and selling a product. They indicate how much the food and beverage industry have improved in terms of quality, processing and marketing.So ads do represent the science behind the food. At the same time, they definitely say how much a society developed, and changed drastically its mentality regarding Food.

Ads are always a representation of the current status Que of the food and eating culture.

When comparing current food product ads with vintage ones, they do say about the cultural shiftsthat have occurred in terms of need and demand to different kinds of food, to a different aspect of eating and taking care of one's body.

One proof is that the century of "western diseases" ( the last 100 years) is hopefully coming to an end with more nutritional awareness spreading. One can notice this in food ads that were promoting bad food habits, to the current food ads that actually care about health and advertise the "good" ingredients... Though no one can deny that there still remains some ads that can truly disregard one's health....

These vintage ads show how much the advertisements where jeopardizing one's health: Coke for Kids? and Lard as a food for happiness? See them below and compare some to the current ones!