I am stupendously pleased that NASFT has today announced they have changed their name to Specialty Food Association. It makes sense. I could never remember the acronym, or what it stood for. It’s just simpler, sleeker, and more appropriate.
It also reflects the growing importance specialty food has in our diet and food conscience. “Sixty-six percent of US consumers purchase specialty foods {in 2012}, up from 59% in 2011.” (Specialty Food Magazine, October 2012, Annual Report: Specialty Food Consumers, p.34.)
Although…I am hopeful that someday “specialty food” will just be “food.” But for now, and the foreseeable future, it is the best way to lunk together artisan, craft, organic, cruelty free, free range, gluten free, kosher, slow, handmade, halal, the ethnic flavor we grew up with (and didn’t think of as ‘ethnic’), and every new designation we can come up with. It works. Cheers to smart rebranding!
Stephanie Skinner
Former publisher Stephanie Skinner founded culture along with her sister Lassa and cheese expert Kate Arding in 2008. Stephanie was intrigued when Lassa, then a cheesemonger, mentioned that there were no magazines filling the artisan cheese niche.
