News  //  Gilroy Garlic Festival

Garlic Festival Will Re-focus Effort To Feature Regional Products

Unveiling a three-year plan focused on increased sustainability, Greg Bozzo, President of the 2010 Gilroy Garlic Festival , introduced eight food and food product partners at a press briefing May 13 at Solis Winery in Gilroy. All eight concerns re-establish the Festival's efforts to feature local and regional cuisine in Gourmet Alley and throughout the internationally-heralded three-day event.

The 32nd annual Garlic Festival will entertain over 100,000 visitors at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy July 23-25, host three popular cooking competitions, present 60 live concerts, return dynamic "Top Chef" Fabio Viviani to the Cook-Off Stage and serve a critically-acclaimed cuisine enhanced with over two tons of fresh California garlic.

"We're heading in a direction to be as eco-friendly as possible," Bozzo, who heads a workforce of more than 4,000 volunteers, explained. "The Festival has initiated a three-year program toward sustainability. While many of these elements have been in place for years, we are going to aggressively re-focus our efforts.

"Among these components are Monterey Bay caught squid, domestic caught shrimp, California chicken and compostable cutlery," Bozzo added.

Present at the recent media event were representatives of Christopher Ranch garlic, Monterey Bay Mushrooms, Lucero Olive Oil, Monterey Fish Company, the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley and Eduardo's Pasta of San Francisco.

Bozzo also identified Foster Farms Chicken and Natur-Bag, a manufacturer of compostable cutlery, as participating concerns.

"You can get calamari from China, from Taiwan, from Thailand," said Sal Tringali of the Monterey Fish Company. "I think the general public appreciates the fact that the Festival chooses to serve a local product."

The newest delicacy in Gourmet Alley will be Eduardo's Pasta, a San Francisco-based pasta to be used in the preparation of Gourmet Alley's "Pasta Con Pesto".

"There are many good local manufacturers, little guys like us, who appreciate the Garlic Festival's efforts to feature local products," said Sandor Halasz, President of Eduardo's Pasta.

Diners on Gourmet Alley will also be introduced to a new utensil to assist their experience, the "spork", a compostable half spoon / half fork.

"In previous years our guests used 50,000 plastic forks, which when disposed of, wound up in the landfill," Bozzo explained. "Now, along with the paper plates, the cutlery will be composted as well."

Media Note: Broadcast quality video of the May 13 Press Briefing is available in the Media Center.

See local community TV interviews from CMAP of Greg Bozzo here and here. Cook-off interview with Deanna Fankline here.