FoodDrinkEurope teamed up with Bump once again to create The Foodies 2022 – highlighting Europe’s food and drink SMEs in an exciting (and tasty) way.

Leading up to event week, all of The Foodies award information and content was showcased on a customised microsite, complete with a refreshed visual identity from our design partners at Shtick and video content featuring categories, finalists and featuring clips from MEPs. The physical activation was held in Place Jean Rey, which included a custom-designed van installation that functioned as a beautiful, cosy meeting space for the week – thank you to E-Demonstrations for helping bring our vision to life!

We also wanted to co-create a clever, fun and delicious way to highlight the Foodies finalists this year. So, in order to translate the sustainable stories, philosophies and actual products from Europe’s most innovative small food and drink companies, we worked with professional chefs to develop a tasting menu of five delicious bites. A big thanks to Paul and Zsu of Stoked who brought flavour and love to the project!

The tasting menu included:

• Protein balls: This flavourful snack is made with sustainably produced oats by Flahavan & Sons, a company that self-generates 70% of its energy requirements and reduced its carbon footprint by 70% in the past decade. It’s mixed with vegan ‘Energise Cocoa & Orange’ seed snacks from Good4U, a super-nutritious product made from all-natural ingredients.
• Sausage roll + mustard: This savoury roll is made with Chimay Bleue from Chimay Brewery, which uses green electricity in its facilities directly from its own on-site wind turbine. Served with mustard via Conserverie Moutarderie Belge, the first food producer in Belgium to propose its products in a returnable jar, reducing CO2 by 80% compared to a recycled jar.
• Aubergeel crispy rice cakes: This plant-based, seafood-flavoured snack is from Mimic Seafood, which fights against the depletion of fish stock and provides a safer alternative to seafood that is not polluted by plastic waste. It’s served with Good4U’s all-natural, vegan ‘BBQ Crunch’.
• Tunato maki: This plant-based maki roll is inspired by Mimic Seafood’s Tunato product, a healthy, sustainable and safe tuna alternative.
• Triple chocolate brownie: This indulgent triple chocolate brownie is made with reduced-sugar chocolate from Klingele Chocolate’s Balance brand, and is served with ‘rescued fruit’ inspired by Acegrow’s circular economy approach to fruit.

A massive thank you to everyone who make The Foodies 2022 a success! Check out the content below for more highlights.