Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
MBTG, the Turkish Pasta, Bulgur, Pulses and Vegetable Oil Promotion Group, was established on April 4, 2012 to promote Turkish brands of pasta, bulgur, pulses and vegetable oils across the globe. MBTG participated at the recently held Food Hospitality World (FHW) 2016 exhibition in Mumbai to enter the India market and promote its products. To create awareness and push its products in the country, MBTG will be participating at similar exhibitions, approaching supermarket chains and organising a Turkish food festival. Elaborating on this to Food & Hospitality World, Mehmet Surur Aydin, chairman, MBTG stated, “This is the first time we participated in an exhibition in India, which is FHW. We are very pleased with the response we received here. We have seen that our products are already being consumed in this country and we witnessed that the visitors were interested in our products. This makes us both happy and excited. We will participate in exhibitions like this and would like to meet different supermarket chains and organise a Turkish food festival, which would go on for three-five days and promote Turkish products among Indian people.” For the festival, MBTG is looking at working in association with the Turkish Confectionery Promotion Group, Olive and Olive Oil Promotion Committee of Turkey and the Turkish Seafood Promotion Committee to promote a wide variety of Turkish products in the India market. “We would meet the Turkish Consulate General in India and would try to realise the same. Preference would be given to Mumbai and if we see a positive outcome then we may participate in other cities. We are looking at organising the festival before October this year.”
Bulgur is a cereal food made from the groats of several different wheat species, most often from durum wheat. This Turkish product is increasingly gaining prominence in the India market opined Aydin. He added, “We are positive about Bulgur’s presence in India. This product is natural since it is made from durum wheat and is liked by the people here as they are seeing it for the first time.” Likewise for Turkish pastas he stated, “Worldwide, people think that only Italian pasta is good but the best durum wheat is produced in Turkey. And we make pasta from semolina while Italians produce pasta from normal wheat. If you eat Italian pasta you can gain weight, but Turkish pasta is a dietary food and is much healthy. By participating at exhibitions and organising activities, we want to introduce our pastas to the people here and change their perception about them. We are the second largest exporter of pasta in the world.”