Halibut baby food awarded top honors at Alaska Symphony of Seafood

This year’s Alaska Symphony of Seafood Competition saw mother Zoi Maroudas-Tziolas of Anchorage take home top honors with her Hali Halibut baby food.

Bambinos Baby Food – the company Maroudas-Tziolas owns – secured first place for the retail portion of the 23rd annual installment of the contest, sweeping the People’s Choice awards as well with the halibut baby food product. Hali Halibut baby food is an organic, certified-kosher product, and has been approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said Maroudas-Tziolas. Babies aged four months and older are safe to consume the product.

Concerns regarding childhood obesity and allergies prompted Maroudas-Tziolas to develop the winning baby food offering. "I noticed there was an opportunity to help and to introduce the Mediterranean diet, and make things delicious," she told The Cordova Times before the Symphony of Seafood Awards gala on 19 February.

Taking home second place in the retail division of the 2016 Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition was Ocean Beauty Seafoods with its Echo Falls Wild Alaska Salmon Candy; third place went to Trapper Creek Smoking Co.'s Candied Smoked Salmon.

For the foodservice category of the competition, Warner Lew, a fleet manager for Bristol Bay with Icicle Seafoods, grabbed first place for his Deckhand Seafoods canned smoked herring. Meanwhile, Orca Bay Seafoods snagged both second and third place for its Pacific Cod with Smokehouse BBQ Flavor and Keta salmon with Maple Bourbon Rub respectively.

The Beyond the Plate category of the competition awarded Arxotica first place for its Quyung-Lii Anti-Aging Skin Serum beauty product. Tidal Vision placed second in this category with its salmon leather wallets, while From the C placed third with its salmon and halibut leather offerings.

The competition’s newest category, Beyond the Egg, awarded its sole entrant, Smoked Salmon Caviar, with the win.

The Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition is coordinated by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation. Primary sponsors include Alaska Air Cargo, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and Northwest Fisheries Association.