MANILA – Food and beverage professionals recently gathered in Makati City for a one-day trade show featuring premium products from New Zealand.

Hosted by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Food Connection Manila showcased award-winning wines from Babich Wine and Brumms Quality Wines, Greenshell Mussels from Kono, quality chocolates from Whittaker’s, New Zealand Natural Ice Cream, Anchor dairy products, Antipodes still and sparkling water, Charlie’s juice drinks, Phoenix organic softdrinks and Palm corned beef.

Also part of the event was Filipino-Kiwi chef Leo Fernandez, who was a finalist in the 2015 season of “MasterChef New Zealand.” He did a cooking demonstration using New Zealand ingredients and Filipino techniques.

• READ: ‘MasterChef’ finalist shines light on Filipino food in New Zealand

“New Zealand products are known for their distinctive taste and quality and this is a great opportunity to showcase them to Filipinos,” said Hernando Banal, New Zealand Trade Commissioner to the Philippines.

According to Banal, New Zealand’s largest exports in the Philippines include dairy products, wine, confectionery, healthy and natural beverages, and meat.

He noted that New Zealand exports over 75% of the food it produces, and is a provider to more than 100 countries.

“We know that Filipinos today are looking for convenient food that not only caters to their increasingly busy lifestyle but are also healthy, safe and delicious. New Zealand products bring to the table these criteria for sustainability and organic production,” he said.