As you probably spotted on our social media channels, I was down at Food Matters Live in November.
I mainly positioned myself at the new Match stage for the whole two days as there were lots of discussions regarding food allergies and the free-from world.
When I arrived, the discussion on ‘The future of freefrom foods in the retail/foodservice sector’ was well under way with some amazing speakers. It was chaired by Julian Mellentin, (Founder, New Nutrition) and on the panel were the following people:
Julia Catton, Director of New Product Development, Kinnerton
Elen Ormson, Partner & Health Brand Manager, Waitrose
Rupi Zani, Quality & Safety Director, Pizza Express
Victoria Omobuwajo, Founder, Sunmo
There was a lot of chat about placement of free-from foods in supermarkets and also whether to do separate menus in restaurants for dietary requirements.
Waitrose said that they have separate areas for vegan and vegetarian in the supermarket following customer feedback. There was discussion around some free-from products being mixed in with regular products, and others found in a separate free-from aisle.
I personally find it really difficult to decide on this. It’s much quicker for me to go down the free-from aisle and find what I want. Being gluten and dairy free, the free-from aisle is designed for me though and the products are usually clearly marked on the front for these allergens. However, often free-from products contain other allergens, such as egg, soya, milk and nuts, which makes it much trickier for people avoiding these.
I do most of my shopping online which means that I buy lots of naturally free-from products too and I would struggle to do this in the supermarket as it takes so long – firstly to find things, and then to read the labels.
Kinnerton described their new brand of free-from chocolate, NOMO (No Missing Out), and said this is sold as main stream. After being introduced to NOMO bars at the Allergy Show last year, I can honestly say that they are both mine and Rory’s favourite free-from chocolate now. And anyone that I’ve spoken to that has tried it, loves it too. Thank you Kinnerton!
I was gutted that I didn’t get a NOMO advent calendar quickly enough last year – I will be first in line this year. They looked immense. I have already ordered my Easter egg. See Rory’s blog post (My first EVER chocolate bar… thanks NOMO) for how much he raves about them.
I wonder how easily I would have found NOMO bars if I didn’t know they existed by seeing them at the Allergy Show though?! To find out, I just typed ‘dairy free chocolate’ into my Tesco app and they didn’t come up, but with ‘free from chocolate’ they did – so it would only have been a matter of time I guess.
Pizza Express said that they have gluten-free options on the main menu, but vegan options are on a separate menu. Again, this was following customer feedback. I love this – it’s so easy for me and my family to go to Pizza Express. No effort at all for both gluten and dairy free options, and you feel totally safe. The vegan cheese rocks too.
Rupi reported that the new trends they are seeing is that families are thinking a lot more about diet in relation to other conditions, e.g. eczema. She also said that approximately 8/10 gluten-free children in their restaurants are also dairy free. Julia (Kinnerton) reported that the younger population seem to be driving the trends at the moment, such as veganism. The whole panel agreed that the flexitarian trend is growing. I’ve definitely seen evidence of this amongst my friends and families.
All in all, it was very interesting panel discussion and it definitely gave me a lot to ponder over. I’d love to hear your thoughts on where you prefer free-from products to be in supermarkets and how you like allergen information in restaurants?