A new era forfoodservice beckons with a greater focus on fresh, local and seasonable food, delegates at this year's FRESH Congress heard this week.
This was the verdict of Hans Steenbergen and Arjan de Boer of Dutch group ShootMy Food, which publishes a range of titles including Food Inspiration, the world's first solely digital magazine for food professionals.
Speaking at the annual event, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week, Steenbergen and de Boer highlighted trends in the foodservice sector that pointed to a change in attitude to focus more on local food and seasonality.
'The first trends are always in foodservice, and most importantly food is about emotion, touch and taste. We have two ways of living, fast and slow, and what more people are aiming for is a slower paced, more rustic model, and we have to embrace this and help people eat in a more healthy way,' noted Steenbergen. 'People now want to know where food comes from. I understand those who are against food globalisation - should we be eating this food from overseas, when the new era for foodservice is all about fresh, local, organic, seasonal and sustainable food?
'Sustainability is very important,' he added. 'Consumers want to be connected to seasonality, particularly the urban classes, and this is a trend we are seeing all over the world. It's the age of rethinking food, looking at how it will move forward - perhaps in 20, 30 years, we will create more space for real, local, healthy food.'
Some 160 of the European fresh produce industry's top decision makers travelled to FRESH Nordic on 23-24 May, which was taking place in Scandinavia for the first time.
More information from the event can be found at www.freshcongress.com
A full report from FRESH Nordic will be available in the July issue of Eurofruit Magazine
