From the 21st to the 23rd London was the place to be for every Food Innovation enthusiast!At Excel, Food Matters Live (FML) is an annual event which tackles one of the most important challenges of our time: the relationship between food, health and nutrition. The event included three inspiring days, over 600 exhibitors, and various conferences and seminars involving global food leaders.
It has been a real marathon of discovery for our many voices. The Future Food Institute Team, in cooperation with CrowdFooding hosted a booth at stand 575.We presented the Future Food Ecosystem and our Global Mission to many curious international visitors, while our partners announced their London-based CrowdFooding Hub:a physical space to develop innovation for the Food & Drink industry. It will connect entrepreneurs and makers with key industry stakeholders in order to conceive new products and solve big problems facing the food system at the grassroots level.
The food trends were pretty clear, especially the new products that will be ready on the market from 2016: if FML isn’t wrong we will be invaded by insects… but luckily tasty, crunchy and sustainable insects to eat!
From Jimini’s bars and dry bugs to the well known One Hop Kitchen and their irreverent Bolognese Sauce in two differents flavours(cricket and mealworm) there were lots of options of edible insects… Do you feel ready for that?
Companies were also very focused on proteins and vitamins, with a great number of stands presenting bars and drinks to integrate your diet with every possible origin, like the clean lifestyle nutrition from the British company NutriStrength.
Between the many protagonists of this event you could find the juicy taste of coconut, like Mighty Bee’s meatless jerkies or CocoNuts’ dairy-free ice cream.
We tried many varieties of rich and strong teas from all over the world, particular meats like the the traditional South African products of Limpopo Biltong and meat substitutes from the Koolen Champignon’s lovely family business.
It was astonishing to see all the projects that are trying to improve the food world, from Universities to collectives like the young artists and food scientists from CrossModalism, a movement based in learning and collaboration across non-traditionally linked disciplines, ideas, and communities.
As we mentioned here, Sara Roversi, founder of the Future Food Institute (FFI) has been guest of the panel “Tomorrow’s foods: what will consumers accept?” about entrepreneurial start-ups, creative designers and culinary innovators committed to finding alternative ingredients, technological innovations and new approaches to gastronomy to enable a more sustainable source of nutrition in the future.
In a few words, Food Matters Live has been a suggestive and thought-provoking source of inspiration where we shook the hands of people that dream to change the food world as we do.We already can’t already wait for 2017 edition!
