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Event series 2023

Tastes of Better

London 14 March and 9 to 12 October | Manchester 16 & 17 May

yellow and white illustration of two hands on an applause
yellow illustration of an audience

The first Tastes of Better event brought over 200 industry innovators together

Sweegen, Beneo, Kemin, MycoTechnology and IFF shared their latest innovations with the VIP audience through their indulgent tasting menus and technical demonstrations. VIPs also enjoyed networking drinks, sponsored by RSSL and forged valuable connections with others from the food industry.

Highlights

Testimonials from our partners

IFF

“The engagement with the guests today was very, very positive. Having the proximity and the closeness, to be able to sit together and have more one-to-one discussions, taste food and spend quality time with them, I think it was very insightful. It helped us better understand what mattered most for all the visitors and what is important to them. We were able to showcase lots of different products, from a starter to a main course and all the drinks. This was a big highlight because it’s so difficult to single out only one product.”

Kemin

“Today has been a great day, it’s been an amazing sensation, really. It’s been face to face, you’ve been able to mix with people you’re interested to be mixing with and talk about solutions and ideas and how you can help. To sit with the audience that was here, that really are the food developers for the large and independents, we’ve shown what we can do with examples of food, highlighting how well it tastes without affecting the taste. So, it’s been a fascinating day.”

Beneo

“We presented our latest developments for five large groups of people, and it was great. It’s different, you have more direct contact. And there’s a large range of technical people, R&D people, NPD people, which is very interesting for us. They’re really looking into new product development in the future for developing products in their organisations. It’s a compact way to meet many people. If you if you had to visit them all it would get pretty complicated!” 
 

Sweegen

“What we chose to do at Food Matters Live is take a completely different approach to how we showcase our technologies. We really wanted to immerse the participants, who are our customers and consumers, in a very immersive environment. We created a ‘room within a room’, and through sound technology and audio visual effects we created real life-like situations that were different throughout the day. ”

MycoTechnology

“It was the immediate reaction, then the feedback in the lounges, you know, hearing how interested people were in in our products and to hear and learn more about them, that type of interaction you really don’t get at other events unless you’re doing a one-on-one customer interfacing. So to be able to do that with the dozens and dozens that we saw today was really, really effective.”

RSSL

“We’ve been meeting with lots of peers and colleagues around the industry. We were able to sit with people and discuss the products we were tasting, and form relationships and bond over the great products that we were tasting, in a more informal situation than maybe going to a large exhibition or conference.”

Explore the companies that took part on the first Tastes of Better session

Tasting menus – delicious, inventive and intriguing

IFF

The global ingredients giant is not holding back. IFF will offer thirsty guests a a zero-alcohol elderflower champagne with a plant-based parmesan crostini topped with black olive, tomato and basil. It will then serve a plant-based blueberry waffle with crispy ‘bacon’, a habanero and lime porkless scratching, and maple syrup. It will follow that with a plant-based beef rendang served with sticky rice, pickles, toasted coconut, nigella seeds and spring onions, then serve a plant-based chocolate orange brownie carob custard, topped with honeycomb and chocolate shards. And to round things off it will offer guests a lo-no rum and cola.

KEMIN

Crowd-pleasing favourites like burgers, sausages, chips, crisps and pasta pack Kemin’s menu, with the emphasis firmly on how Kemin’s rosemary-infused frying oils and antimicrobials help preserve and extend the look, taste and texture of various foods (and even the frying oil itself). Kemin plans a ‘before and after’ experience, which sounds like determined guests may have to keep eating hot crispy fries again and again until they can make up their minds. 

SWEEGEN

Keeping things coy, Sweegen is flying in from the US in with a top secret menu to accompany a full on sensory overload. It’s keeping the full menu under wraps to maximise the element of surprise, but has said its Signature Sweetener portfolio will feature, and promises guests will have multiple senses engaged while they choose what to eat and drink, to explore why consumers choose the things they do. 

BENEO

Colourful and vibrant, Beneo’s menu starts with creamy tomato soup with plant-based meatballs, dubbed cheat’balls. That will be followed up with a faba bean and rice cracker topped with an on-trend textured tuna alternative. With appetites fired up, Beneo will then serve a butter chicken curry, made with meatless chicken chunks and roasted cauliflower. And it will follow that with a crunchy snack high in protein and fibre before rounding things off with a coconut and chocolate dessert, enriched with protein from faba beans and rice starch. 

MYCOTECHNOLOGY

Utilising the power of fermentation and mushroom mycelia, MycoTechnology will kick things off by waking up coffee lovers with a spiked oat latte, made with coffee and vodka blended with oatmilk and balanced with MycoClearIQ to produce a smooth, creamy drink (an alcohol-free version will also available). After that, it will serve up a vegan chick’n curry made with Myco FermentIQ texturised plant protein, garam masala, fresh ginger and garlic blended with fire roasted tomatoes, accompanied by a naan bread

Themes and categories

The key themes focus on the need to meet the consumer demand for products that deliver on taste, convenience, sustainability and affordability.

Sustainable/hybrid foods
Better-for-you solutions

Allergens and free from
Natural and clean label solutions

Flavours and colours
Nutrition and functional nutrition

solutions in food and beverages

Companies attending

AB World Foods | Aimia Foods | Allplants | Amadori Aramark | Asda | AYMES | Baker & Baker | Bakkavor BaxterStorey | BOL Foods | Britvic | Cawston Press Cranswick | Creed Foodservice | Croft Valley Foods Ecotone | Elior | Finnebrogue | Finsbury Food Group Foodbuy | Fortnum & Mason | Fresh Fitness Food Greencore | Greggs | Griffiths Foods | Gu Puds
Holroyd Howe | Hovis | Huel | Innocent Drinks
Jacksons Bakery | Jamie Oliver Group | KIND Snacks
Le Casselle | Marks & Spencer | Midshire Foods | Mizkan Mondelez | Nelsons | Nomad Foods | One Planet Pizza Premier Foods | Quorn | Sainsbury’s | Samworth Brothers Sodexo | Starbucks | Subway | Suntory | Sussex Pub Company | Ugo Food Group | Unilever | VBites | Waitrose Walkers Shortbread

Guest Speaker – Alexis Gauthier

Alexis Gauthier is a multi-award-winning French chef and successful London restaurateur.

In 2016, Alexis himself became vegan, and announced he was planning to turn the entire restaurant plant-based. In 2021, this became a reality, and Gauthier Soho became the first classical French fine-dining vegan restaurant in the world.

He recently opened the more casual 123V restaurant – also 100% vegan – in London’s Mayfair.

TOB vip

VIP audience

These VIP events brings together manufacturers, brands, retail and foodservice within the UK.

This cross-category experience to these sectors focuses on being a team learning and network experience.

There is a particular demand for innovative solutions across the following areas: Ambient foods, Bakery, Confectionery
Dairy and dairy alternatives, Desserts, Meat and fish alternatives, Healthy snacking Food-to-go/convenience,
Meat and fish alternatives, Sauces and condiments and
Soft drink and low/alc – no /alc

front of a building, the oval in kennington

Venue information

The Kia Oval, SE11 5SS
Entrance: John Edrich Gate

Vauxhall Station
When leaving the station walk through the tunnel towards Kennington. Cross at the traffic lights and walk down Harleyford Road to your right. As you walk down the road you will see the Kia Oval on your left follow the ground around and you will then see the John Edrich Gate.

Oval Station
Turn left out of the station and cross at the traffic lights. Continue walking left down Harleyford road and the Oval is on your right hand side. The John Edrich Gate is the entrance straight ahead.

Attend this event

Apply now to join these companies as a VIP