Jan Berk, Vice President of San Miguel Produce, Inc.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">We are harvesting baby bok choy, shanghai baby bok choy, gai lan, yu choy, dau miu, and gai choy. The weather hasn't been the best this season, having been very cold. A lot of the products, especially the leafy greens have a tendency to grow slower when it is cold. So, it has tightened up a little bit. Chinese New Year is a very under- celebrated holiday in mainstream American grocery stores. There is a great opportunity to have a lot of fun and celebrate with signage. A lot of Americans are wanting to experiment with traditional and cultural foods. Whether its Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or Japanese, all of the different Asian fusion menus offer very exciting options for consumers. The holiday is becoming more important, especially for traditional Chinese people and food is a very important part of the Chinese New Year celebration. For the whole two weeks, people feast on elaborate foods for visiting family and friends. Food is really the center of this celebration. <hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Russ Widerburg, Sales Manager for Boskovich Farms<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The items we have here are considered Chinese mix including baby bok choy and regular bok choy. We grow these in the Ventura County area. As we are coming into the Chinese New Year, we are a little limited. Every season during the Winter time in December, January and February, we hit little gaps created by the winter growing season and the shorter days of sunlight which creates a longer growing period. In the next ten days to two weeks, we have a little bit lighter supply for all the Chinese mix vegetables. For Chinese mixed vegetables and other items like spinach and green onions, you get a two or three week period where you can definitely feel the spike in demand. <hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
