Gastronomica in 2022 - A true industry collaborative Food Festival to help people think and feel differently about food & drink

There has perhaps never been a more important time to stop and ask questions about our food system. Because of this, we are delighted to announce a true industry collaboration with over 25 companies already looking to work together to showcase the work being done and the importance of the industry for the future. Would you like to get involved?

In the 75 years since the end of the Second World War we have built a food system capability that pre-war generations could only have dreamt of. We now have a diversity of ingredients and a level of food safety that would truly astonish them, and the sophistication of technology and distribution to make the full cornucopia of the global food-basket universally available all over the planet at a price that is affordable to most of humanity.

But increasingly, consumers are asking about the real cost of the food on our plate. For example, they are concerned about the damage to nature – soils and biodiversity through intensive farming, about the impact on our health caused by processed foods high in sugar and fats, and about the carbon and plastics impacts caused by large scale food production.
Gastronomica will bombard all of the senses - sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, strengthened by the use of theatre, art and music to help the visitor see food and drink through a new lens.

Many foodservice operators and their suppliers have been making enormous strides to change these outcomes by new thinking in menu design, production and most importantly ingredient sourcing. Alongside the supermarkets, the hospitality sector is the closest point to the consumer, and it’s our firm belief that by engaging hospitality with consumers we can showcase innovation and best practice to inspire everyone to make even bolder change in the future.

So right now we are designing Gastronomica, a Food Festival that aims to help people think and feel differently about food & drink, to enable and inspire individual actions to build a better world. It will do this by taking the visitor on a journey through the past and the present, then creating a positive vision of the future, for if one cannot imagine a better future, one cannot make it happen.

Gastronomica will bombard all of the senses - sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, strengthened by the use of theatre, art and music to help the visitor see food and drink through a new lens. It will feature visitor audio-visual experiences, presentations, workshops, demonstrations and tastings. Our aim is to get the visitor to reflect on their relationship with food through the lenses of diet, culture, arts, place and humanity.

We will be bringing Gastronomica to life during 2022. We would love it if you would like to be a part of the journey. Get in touch as we are seeking more foodservice operators to become involved in the creation of an inspiring show that will truly make a difference.