The Swedish Flavour & Spice Association held on the 16th and 17th of April its annual General Meeting and member meeting in Gothenburg under the theme “Food for the Future – Innovation, Preparedness and Resilience in the Nordic Region.” Unfortunately, this topic is highly relevant given the current global situation, with war, rising oil prices, and other ongoing crises.
Patrik Strömer, Head of Crisis Preparedness, together with Carl Eckerdal from the Swedish Food Federation, provided insights into how our industry can become more robust and resilient, as well as updates on the current geopolitical and economic landscape. We also had engaging group discussions about what we as an association can and should do in relation to preparedness and resilience.
During the meeting, the concept “Flavour of the Nordics” was presented and received very positively. The initiative was inspired by EFFAs “Flavour of Europe concept”. At a previous member meeting, we created a word cloud capturing how the Nordics “taste” – identifying the most characteristic Nordic flavours. Based on this, flavours and seasoning concepts were developed, resulting in two beverages and two different chips flavours.
The creations included two cocktails:
…and two chips varieties:
The concept will now be presented at several different forums. The first is “The Food Day” on 7 May, where representatives from the Swedish food industry and policymakers, including several party leaders, gather to discuss key food-related issues. The concept will also be showcased at the Swedish Food Federation’s food industry networking event during “Almedalen Political Week” this summer, as well as at a food trade fair in Sweden.