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Chefs from across Vietnam recently competed in Porkstars, a cooking competition now in its third year, designed to promote creative uses of U.S. pork.
The live streamed event is a collaboration between the U.S. Meat Export Federation, the National Pork Board, the Indiana Soybean Alliance, and the Indiana Corn Marketing Board.
Indiana soybean grower Chris Eck traveled to Vietnam for the pork stars event.
“They had several contestants to start with a limited down to three, and then those were each matched with a, I think, an influencer off of TikTok or, you know, social media. And then they’re set up to make each of them make a dish, and then we’ll see who wins at the end.”
There are some access challenges for the Vietnamese market, but National Pork Board President Al Wulfekuhle of Iowa sees potential.
“We have to sell the quality of U.S. pork, the reliability, the taste and flavor. We’re not going to compete on price. There’s a tariff issue here that keeps us a little more expensive than some of our competitors. So, we have to sell it on quality, taste and flavor. It’s a long game, I think we need to be here. I think there’s a lot of market potential.”
Proceeds from the Porkstars event went to a local charity, Feed the Kids, that provides nutritious food to vulnerable children in rural Vietnam.