March 29, 2007

IGA HOMETOWN HOLIDAYS RECIPE CHALLENGE FINALISTS NAMED

Eight Thousand Dollar Grand Prize Up for Grabs

CHICAGO, IL - IGA today announced the 10 finalists who will compete for the $8,000 Grand Prize in IGA’s sixth annual IGA Hometown Holidays Recipe Challenge. The competition finals will take place on April 13th, 2007, at The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago.

The finalists were selected by a panel of Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago Culinary Division chefs from the more than 500 original recipes that were submitted throughout the country during IGA’s 2006 Hometown Holidays marketing event. The event, held in participating IGA stores last November, was designed to encourage families to share their holiday family recipes.

During the IGA Hometown Holidays event, IGA’s independent retailers offered valuable savings on the brand name sponsor products their shoppers need to create their favorite holiday recipes. Valid recipe entries in the Hometown Holidays Recipe Challenge were required to be original creations and include at least two products from the promotional sponsors.

Sponsors include Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, ConAgra Foods, Inc., Minute Maid Juices, Kraft Foods, Nestlé USA, The J.M. Smucker Company and Georgia-Pacific Corporation.

On April 13, the finalists will prepare their recipes in the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago Culinary Division’s professional kitchen. A panel of the program’s chefs will then evaluate the recipes based on four criteria:

Creativity of recipe: 10 points
Ease of preparation: 10 points
Taste: 15 points
Use of sponsor products: 15 points

Each of the ten finalists has already won a four day/three-night trip to Chicago with a guest for the Recipe Challenge finals. In addition to that, the grand prize winner will also win an $8,000 cash prize.

The finalists and their favorite IGA stores are listed below:

Roxanne Chan
DeLano's IGA, San Francisco, Calif.
Zesty Scented Steamed Cake with Spicy Citrus Compote

Mary Edwards
McCowan's Market IGA, San Pedro, Calif.
Pepper Encrusted Beef Tenderloin with Watercress Cream

Anna Ginsberg
Crestview IGA, Austin, Texas
Extreme Peanut Butter Molten Lava Cakes

Natalie Hval
St. John's IGA, Vancouver, Wash.
Creamy Chai Scented Banana Trifle

Victoria Johnson
El Rancho Market IGA, Chandler, Ariz.
Beer Braised Pork Chops with Caramelized Onions and Fennel

Erin Renouf Mylroie
Rank's IGA, Canandaigua, N.Y.
Buenos Aires Steak and Black Bean Salad with Tangerine-Chimichurri Dressing

Cheryl Perry
Norlina IGA, Norlina, N.C.
Ancho Orange Glazed Chicken with Toasted Walnuts and Sweet Potato Hash

Dominic Russo
Ellet IGA, Akron, Ohio
Apple Butter Risotto with Blue Cheese and Bacon

Athena Russell
Quinby IGA Market, Quinby, S.C.
Taste of Thai Pork Wraps with Peanut Sauce

Susan Scarborough
Waleska Super Thrift IGA, Waleska, Ga.
Rich Bock Beer Mac and Cheddar with Roasted Sweet Onions

“We were very pleased to bring the annual IGA Hometown Holidays event to our IGA Supermarkets during last year’s holiday season,” said IGA Senior Director of Branding and Business Development Jim Walz. “As awareness of the event has grown, so has the prestige and importance of the Recipe Challenge. Our IGA ‘Hometown Proud’ independent retailers understand the value of family and the traditions families create. This contest has become a way for our retailers to help their shoppers preserve and share their families’ food-related traditions with fellow IGA shoppers around the U.S.”

Mark Facklam, The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago’s Director of Culinary Arts, expressed his and his students’ enthusiasm for the up-coming event. “This is our sixth year of hosting the IGA Recipe Challenge, and each year we find that the event is more successful than the last,” Facklam said. “The contest provides invaluable human interaction for our students, and a true culinary experience for IGA’s Recipe Challenge contestants. Each year the contestants have raved about the event, and now that word has traveled through the cooking contest circuit, IGA’s Recipe Challenge has become known as one of the country’s premier cooking contests. We’re so pleased that IGA has given The Illinois Institute of Art the opportunity to help create this new Chicago culinary tradition.”

IGA is the world’s largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $21 billion per year. The Alliance includes more than 4,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 36 distribution companies and more than 55 major manufacturers, vendors and suppliers encompassing everything from grocery to equipment items. IGA has operations in 44 of the United States and more than 40 countries, commonwealths and territories on all six inhabited continents.

For Information Contact
Ashley M. Page 773-772-5724