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:

September 15, 2012

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)

September 14, 2012

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.”

September 4, 2012

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!

Putting Carbonated Sweet beverages with Milk isnt  a good thing moms!



Canned food is not much consumed as before.. The trend currently is for fresh food!

Another sweetened  carbonated beverage that target kids!

They are happy because they ate Lard!Really??




Some Selected Current ads! 

An ad  for fresh food for babies. "Never frozen"

hmm....Not really healthy.....

An ad that targets the texture/quality of butter! Lovee it!

An ad for organic tomatoes! We def. wouldn't have seen this 50 years ago!


Coke changed totally its target markets from kids/moms to teenagers and youth!



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