Consumers Invited to ‘Shrimp & Pasta Party!’

The Shrimp Council and Dreamfields Healthy Pasta have launched their first “Shrimp & Pasta Party!” on Facebook. The virtual party showcases the food pairing through an interactive recipe contest, a shrimp and pasta personality quiz, a place for fans to share their favorite shrimp attributes, among other features.

During Lent, the promotion is accessible on the Eat Shrimp Facebook page, which is managed by the McLean, Va.-based Shrimp Council. On the page, a customized "Shrimp & Pasta Party" tab encourages fans to try dozens of pasta-and-shrimp meal options.

“This partnership is really fun and unique,” said Liz Housman of St. Louis Park, Minn.-based Dreamfields Pasta. “Our pasta has twice the fiber and fewer digestible carbs than traditional pasta, and combining it with a healthy protein such as shrimp is a perfect meal solution. It’s hard to imagine a more compelling combo.”

Consumers can join the fun by “liking” Eat Shrimp on Facebook and visiting the Shrimp & Pasta Party tab. The interactive recipe contest asks fans to submit their own shrimp-and-pasta recipes with pre-selected ingredients from six categories: pasta, protein, sauce, vegetables, cheese, and herbs and seasonings. Each selected ingredient will automatically populate on a plate, ultimately creating a “dish” that the contestant will then enter for judging. Five winners will be revealed on April 30, with one grand-prize winner receiving a $200 gift certificate to the grocery store of his or her choice, while the rest each get a $50 gift card.

The aim of the contest is in alignment with that of the Shrimp Council: to educate consumers and provide helpful tools that make it easy and fun to incorporate shrimp into a healthy, well-balanced diet.

“The Shrimp Council’s goal is to promote shrimp as a nutritious and delicious protein,” said Judy Dashiell, SVP at the Washington-based National Fisheries Institute. “Through this promotion, we’re demonstrating that shrimp and pasta is the perfect weeknight duet -- easy, nutritious and delicious. And, by offering the chance to win a grocery store gift certificate, we hope to make feeding the family a bit more affordable this Lent for a handful of our fans.”