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Nagase Viita made its debut at SIRHA 2025, held over five days in late January 2025 (January 23–27) at EURO EXPO LYON France.
SIRHA is the largest food trade fair in Europe, held once every two years. Prestigious competitions such as the Bocuse d’Or (a world-renowned cooking competition) and Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie (Pastry World Cup) were also held during the event, making it the largest gathering of the food industry at the start of the new year, and arguably the most important event in the French culinary calendar.
Looking Back at the 2023 Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie
Two years earlier, in January 2023, Team TREHA® watched with bated breath as the Japanese team competed in the final round of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, held during the SIRHA trade show. The team took home the gold medal for the first time in 16 years, winning after eight tournaments. The venue erupted in excitement as the long-awaited victory became reality. Chef Yusaku SHIBATA, who worked on the frozen dessert segment for Team Japan, used TREHA® in the recipe that helped secure their world-class victory.
It was an incredible honor to discover that the second-place team from France and the third-place team from Italy also used TREHA®. This became a powerful moment of recognition for us, confirming that TREHA® is a trusted ingredient among the world’s top pastry chefs.
For more about Japan’s glorious win in 2023, check out this blog post here!
At that time, we had already confirmed our sponsorship of the Japanese national team for 2025. Team TREHA® was filled with anticipation, wondering what the scene would look like when we returned to Lyon two years later.
January 2025: Our First Exhibition at SIRHA
While Team TREHA® had been hoping to both support the 2025 Japanese team while exhibiting at the show, we were fortunate enough to be selected by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) to participate in the Japan Pavilion and secure our own booth. Although each booth was compact, the Japan Pavilion featured 27 companies offering a wide variety of food products from Japan, such as citrus fruits, sake, and Hokkaido wheat flour. The overall presentation, highlighted by elegant cherry blossom motifs, created an immersive cultural atmosphere that captivated visitors from France and beyond. One booth offered freshly made ramen for tasting, while another grilled and served black garlic from Aomori prefecture to curious guests. The variety and creativity were so appealing that even we, as Japanese exhibitors, found it both fun and engaging.
— Inside the TREHA® Booth —
At the Team TREHA® booth, we showcased side-by-side comparisons of sushi rice prepared with and without TREHA® highlighting differences in texture and transparency. We also displayed apple slices soaked in TREHA® solution versus plain water, to demonstrate the ingredient’s functionality in preventing browning. The videos featuring Chef Franck KENSTENER, a recipient of the prestigious MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) award for master artisans, explained the benefits of TREHA® and offered visitors a deeper understanding of its culinary applications.
Want to hear directly from MOF chocolatier Chef Kestener? His video message, complete with English subtitles, is linked at the bottom of this article. An exclusive interview with Chef Kestener is also available on our website — [read it here].
In the bakery category, we offered tastings of brioche and sablé au fromage (savory cheese cookies), both specially crafted by Chef Yu TANAKA（田中 優 ）, the first non-French Executive Chef Pâtissier of Hôtel Le Bristol, one of Paris’s most prestigious luxury hotels. Many visitors expressed their delight at the opportunity to taste baked goods made by such an esteemed chef. They could immediately taste the difference in texture, with the brioche being softer and the sablé noticeably crisper, thanks to TREHA®.
To learn more about Chef Tanaka’s remarkable achievements, check out our exclusive interview here.
— A Joyful Reunion —
It was a wonderful surprise when Chef Keiko NAGAE（長江桂子）, a globally active culinary consultant, happened to pass by our booth on the second day of the show. Team TREHA® has worked with her several times in both Japan and France. She even visited our Tokyo lab in the past to take part in a TREHA® workshop.
This time, she was giving a product demonstration at the LOUIS FRANCOIS booth, where she serves as a brand ambassador. LOUIS FRANCOIS is also one of our distributors, offering TREHA® in retail-sized packaging. When we heard she would be using TREHA® in her demo, we rushed over to watch. In front of a large crowd, Chef Nagae presented two elegant desserts: a matcha chiffon cake (Chiffon cake à la vanille matcha) and a tropical fruit vacherin (Vacherin exotique), a meringue-based dessert with fruit and cream. She used TREHA® in both, explaining how it helped stabilize the meringue and improved the cake’s structure and mouthfeel. The audience was clearly impressed, enjoying the samples and engaging enthusiastically with her presentation.
— Japan’s Consecutive Victory at the 2025 Pastry World Cup —
In addition to exhibiting at SIRHA, another major purpose of our presence was to cheer on the Japanese team in the final of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie.
SIRHA’s massive venue spans 140,000 square meters, roughly 1.5 million square feet, or about 26 American football fields! With so many attendees, it took nearly 20 minutes to walk from Hall 2, where we exhibited, to Hall 6, the venue for the finals. As a result, we couldn’t watch much of the competition in person, but we made sure not to miss the awards ceremony. People began lining up more than two hours in advance, which reminded us just how beloved and prestigious this event truly is.
When Japan’s victory was announced, the crowd erupted in cheers. It marked their second consecutive win, and we shared in the overwhelming emotion of the moment. As a supporting company and fellow Japanese, it was a moment of immense pride and joy to witness their success firsthand. We’re proud to share our report on Team Japan’s shining repeat victory in 2025 — read the full story here. We are already planning a new collaboration with this remarkable team. Please stay tuned for more exciting updates.
Don’t miss our story on the brilliant Team Japan and their 2025 triumph: Remarkable Repeat Victory for Team Japan at the 2025 Pastry World Cup | TREHA®︎ | Nagase Food Ingredients
Reflections After SIRHA
Thanks to the support of so many people, our very first five-day challenge at SIRHA came to a rewarding close. We welcomed many visitors to our booth and were glad to introduce TREHA® to a wide audience, as it is still not very well known in Europe. Our journey as TEAM TREHA® continues, and we look forward to connecting with even more people in the future. We hope you’ll follow along with us by reading our blogs and sharing in the next chapter of our adventure.
ー Chef Tanaka’s Recipes：Now Available ー
Would you like to try the original recipes Chef Tanaka developed exclusively for TREHA® ? These recipes were specially created to highlight the unique benefits of TREHA® in professional baking.
Just send us a message through our Contact us page with the subject line “Request for Chef Tanaka’s Recipes.”
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