Japan tastes (and buys!) Catalan products

Ramon Sentmartí, director of Prodeca, together with the Catalan Government Delegate to Japan, Mònica Castellà, gave the starting signal for the #CatalanFood campaign in Japan, which aims to increase sales of Catalan products in strategic markets and position the Catalan agri-food brand with international consumers.

Tokyo hosted the Catalan Food Street Show Tokyo this week, a two-day food showcase introducing Catalan cuisine and products, held in the busy Shibuya district at the heart of the Japanese capital.

The event was a success, with more than 3,000 people tasting and buying Catalan products at the various sales points set up. All the product on display — more than 150 lines — sold out, a commercial success for all the participating Catalan companies.

The food showcase featured a tasting area pairing Catalan wine with Catalan tapas by Lleida chef Josep Barahona, who has lived in Japan for more than 30 years. Japanese visitors could choose from around twenty Catalan wines and cavas and taste fideus a la cassola, escudella with galets and botifarra, accompanied by pa amb tomàquet, as well as sweets and other products. Catalan music set the mood and there was a space where visitors could have their photo taken and take home a souvenir of the experience, with the Sagrada Família as a backdrop.

"Catalan cuisine introduces us to the world and events like this are an excellent opportunity to showcase the richness and diversity of our agri-food products", said Ramon Sentmartí, who attended the showcase. "The #CatalanFood campaign projects the agri-food sector's commercial potential in Catalonia's main strategic markets, such as Japan", he concluded. 

For her part, the Catalan Government Delegate to Japan, Mònica Castellà, who took part in the event, stressed that "events like this are key to promoting Catalonia and positioning our country as a benchmark of culinary excellence".

Catalan food in Tokyo's restaurants

Japanese visitors were very open to trying these new products and interested in Catalan cuisine. Japan is a market that particularly values tradition, quality and originality.

Spreading Catalan cuisine and products in Japan will be complemented by an initiative centred on restaurants: from 1 to 10 December there will be Catalan Week in Japan, in which 10 emblematic Catalan restaurants, led by Catalan and Japanese chefs with ties to Catalonia, will offer a Catalan menu.

The #CatalanFood campaign is under way

The event forms part of the #CatalanFood campaign, launched by Prodeca in the last quarter of the year to promote Catalan products and companies internationally through various food activities in 17 strategic markets: the United States, Japan, China, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Coordinated with six international marketing agencies and with the collaboration of some Catalan government delegations abroad, the campaign aims to increase the perceived value of Catalan food by giving visibility to and energising the Catalan companies and products present in those markets. The campaign's first event was in Berlin, with the Catalan Food Showcase aimed at trade audiences (importers, distributors and restaurateurs) and opinion leaders in the German market, featuring two tastings — wine and olive oil — and a live showcooking workshop. 

In the coming weeks, Prodeca will hold events in Kuwait, New York, Washington, Lima, Mexico, Accra, Lagos, Lusaka and Riyadh, with more than 150 Catalan companies registered to introduce their products in these strategic markets. 

Present in more than 200 markets worldwide, Catalonia currently exports food and drink worth more than €14,800 million a year (2022 figures) and has established itself as an agri-food export power ahead of Portugal, Greece, Peru, Colombia, Sweden and Japan. Prodeca supports Catalan agri-food companies in their internationalisation and organises their joint participation at the main agri-food fairs, arranges meetings with sector buyers and importers and offers marketing support programmes, through the agri-food brand Catalonia, where food is culture.