Sikh Community Center Washington DC

Sikhs from around the world took center stage at the Fancy Food Show held at the Jacobs Javits Convention Center last week.

If you can believe it, more than 250,000 products including confections, cheese, coffee, snacks, spices, ethnic, natural, organic products were displayed at this event which was open only to the trade.

Prominent food purveyors from around the world, led by distinguished Sikhs, could be seen just about everywhere in this expansive landscape.

SikhCommunityCenter.org was invited by the leading Sikh Fancy Food Confectioners to attend the event and cover it for the very first time!

Here are some photographic memories of a sampling of the Sikhs who made themselves, and all of us foodies, proud!

Mr H.S. Bains (seen here busy negotiating a deal on the phone) brought an impressive team from Chandigarh, India on behalf of Markfed, which is the Punjab State C-operative Supply & Marketing Federation Ltd. Mr Bains is senior manager (International Trade) for Markfed.

Here's Mr. Bains glued to the phone!

Mr. Parvinder Thapar, CEO, USA & Canada Divisions, Little Bee Imports was abuzz with prospects interested in his honey and other lover-dovey food products! Thapar's company is based in Doraha, Punjab.

Everyone knows Nanak Foods! Well, the doyenne himself, Mr. J.S. Bakshi was there regaling everyone with Ras-malai, one of the top sellers in any Desi convenience store.

Sukhis Foods was a big draw at the Fancy Food Show. Thousands flocked to their booth to taste samples of their frozen food recipes, from Channa Masala to Samosa & Chutney. Just ask Avneet Singh(shown above), a family friend of owner Sukhi Singh's son Dalbir, who flocked to their booth to check out the wares. To the pride of many, Dalbir picked up a couple of awards on behalf of his mother who founded the company quite by accident in 1989. Sukhi's first business - a neighborhood deli in San Francisco folded after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. But the hi-tech boom in 1992 brought the techies to her doorstep and soon she was handling kitchens for Fortune 500 companies all across America. Her son, Dalbir, is getting married in a few days too! Another hot Sikh off the market!

Mr M.S. Gadhok, General Manager - RTE Group, ITC Limited, Foods Division, came all the way from Bangalore for the show. Everyone knows of ITC Limited, the company with some of the best hotels in the world in India. A genuinely nice guy he is!

Veerinder Chawla and Gagandeep Singh came from the Northwest Provinces with their well-known brand, The Tao of Tea, which mesmerized the attendees with their Himalayan tastes.

Last but not the least, there was the erstwhile Singh of Bling, Lakhinder Jit Singh Vohra, hobknobbing in the VIP hospitality suite with reps from Veuve Clicquot. Vohra is the founder of SikhCommunityCenter.org.

Now that's what we call a Fancy Sikh!