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From sinners to saints What does food development look like heading into 2024? The easy answer is that it’s busy reformulating the excesses of the 80s, 90s, and noughties to turn sinners into saints. A muffin, for example, used to be an indulgent treat. Now they come with reduced sugar, fortified with fibre, and a Nutra Score of B, which, as you know, means it’s a ‘favourable choice’. And this is no bad thing, it still tastes exactly like a muffin, but it won’t clog my arteries and kill me slowly. On the other hand, do I miss that guilty indulgence? Is it even a treat if it’s an ‘approved choice’? Where is the fun in being holy? Anyway, before I start demanding a trans-fat sodden muffin with extra caramel and a chocolate flake, perhaps a better answer is to say that in 2024 the development business will do exactly what it’s always done, by staying ahead of emerging trends and giving the consumer what they want, ideally before they know they want it. So what do they want? In 2023, consumers said they wanted clean-label, affordable, nutritious, and sustainable snacks. Virtuous is the way forward for them, particularly when it
comes to convenience food on the go, which has historically delivered a swift sensation rather than slow-burn satisfaction. But if the ongoing evolution towards healthier products (not at the expense of taste!) is the topline for 2024, our guest columnist explores some of the more niche innovation trends heading our way on p20, like third-culture cuisine. We also look at the upcoming EU deforestation regs, ask how life as a development chef compares to being a restaurant one, and look back at the last Tastes of Better event in Ascot. So read on to see and hear about some of the very best innovations in ingredients and development techniques from the very biggest businesses out there doing it, and pinch a few ideas for yourself. Or, if you’re as saintly as a modern-day muffin, just be inspired by them. Perhaps T.S. Eliot said it best, although he may not have been specifically talking about reformulating muffins, when he wrote: “Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal, bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”
by James Halliwell Business editor at Food Matters Live
CO N T EN T S
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TASTES OF BETTER AT ASCOT
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IS FOOD DEVELOPMENT TOO SOUTHERNCENTRIC?
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ARE YOU READY FOR THE EU DEFORESTATION REGULATIONS ?
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PODCAST: DO WE EAT ENOUGH FIBRE?
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ABOUT US
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OPINION: WHAT’S TRENDING IN 2024?
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EDLONG INTERVIEW: IT’S A QUESTION OF TASTE
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IFF INTERVIEW: DEVELOPMENT CHEF VS RESTAURANT CHEF
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MEET THE TASTES OF BETTER TEAM
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Ingredients at the post! by James Halliwell
Naked fish, chat shows, intrigue, and a macaron filled with cauliflower cheese. Never let it be said that Tastes of Better does not deliver the flavours of the future with a flourish. And as the courses were introduced and served, appreciative comments from the VIP guests suggested the TOB partners showcasing their latest innovations had given everyone a good run for their money...
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Beneo
Tate & Lyle
It’s 9:30am and vegetarian fish is being served in a small bowl topped with baby herbs (a.k.a. just another day in the life of a food developer). Beneo made an elegant entrance to Tastes of Better Ascot with a Mediterranean inspired menu. Its plantbased twist on fish could have arrived covered in crispy batter, but Beneo wanted to showcase it au-naturel for the VIP audience so they could get up close and personal with it. And it didn’t disappoint. “Much, much better than others I have tried,” was one comment from a manufacturer currently producing a range of plant-based products for a UK high street food specialist.
The panoramic suite at Ascot offers sweeping views of the enormous racecourse, which made the perfect setting for Tate & Lyle to relax everyone into its ‘chat show’ format. Presenter and journalist Stefan Gates interviewed a selection of Tate & Lyle’s food scientists and developers, and introduced the audience to Tate & Lyle’s Promonitor fibre fortifying solution, while the VIP guests sampled it by sipping an on-trend fermented milk drink , nibbling on cucumber pearls and white balsamic on a saltine cracker, and munching on an apple, oat and cinnamon mini-muffin, which was filled with fibre and tasted very pleasant.
The VIP reaction to Beneo’s menu was intruige and positivity
Tate & Lyle turned its session into a TV chat show
Vegetarian fish is set to get even bigger in 2024
A triple selection of fibre-boosted treats at Tate & Lyle
TA S T I N G
Edlong
AAK
Edlong embraced Tastes of Better with a spectacular session filled with a heady blend of flavour, fun and food science. Playing with flavours and textures to show off its technical skills and processing capabilities with unusual combinations, like a macaron filled with cauliflower cheese, a peanut butter and jelly cake, and nachos with a white chocolate sauce, the air of fairground fun with a squirt of Willy Wonka suited the menu perfectly. What Edlong wanted was to surprise the tastebuds of a whole host of VIPs and get them talking about the startling flavours they were experiencing, and they succeeded.
What AAK is doing with fats is extraordinary. The food and drink industry faces any number of challenges around reformulation for all sorts of reasons, from bringing prices down to match the cost of living to stripping out yet more sugar, but AAK demonstrates that increasingly sophisticated use of fats can tackle all of them with aplomb. And anyone who tasted the AAK praline, just to select one example from the very wide array of solutions and techniques AAK was showcasing, knows the end result achieves the magic word so many reformulation attempts have as their ultimate goal indistinguishable.
A carnival atmosphere at Edlong’s fabulously flavourful session
AAK offer a host of solutions to development challenges
A riot of flavours, including completely unexpected ones
From sausage rolls to chocolate praline, AAK delivered it all
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Azelis
IFF
The charming environs of Ascot lend themselves to a leisurely breakfast and a lovely afternoon tea. Azelis offered both during the day, delivering a mixture of indulgence and innovation that satisfied everyone. A cinnabun latte was the perfect introduction, breakfast also featured a tasty Morrocan sausage roll with a reduced sugar ketchup, and a vegan cumberland sausage, maple syrup and pancakes. Azelis also served up chai malt loaf slathered in golden butter, and we learned that malt loaf was invented as a simple, nutritious and squidgy snack for soliders in the trenches in WW1. Azelis’s version has a Nutriscore of A.
Previous visitors to IFF Taste of Better sessions will have had high expectations, but they were more than matched. A lono gin saw IFF’s ‘race through the world’ menu fly out of the gate, and it followed up by serving example after example of tasty alternative fare from far and wide, including Puerto Rico and Argentina. “I taste a lot of plant-based foods and I have to say, this is very different, in a very good way,” said one VIP guest. It would be hard to single out a highlight, IFF’s textured proteins are some of the best on the market, but the Gin-No-Cello was a zero alcohol drink that somehow packed a very alcoholic ‘kick’.
Azelis laid on a spectacular spread for breakfast and tea
IFF took VIP guests on a ‘race around the world’
Afternoon tea at Azelis featured some splendid cakes
Tasty empanadas with a peppery fruity relish
Join us for
TASTES OF BETTER 2024 The food industry is under increasing pressure to develop products that deliver on taste, affordability, sustainability and nutrition. Tastes of Better gives product developers across brands, manufacturers, retailers, QSRs and foodservice the opportunity to discover the latest innovations in food drink to help solve the most pressing innovation challenges.
Ascot 16-17 April | 8-9 October Manchester 22 May | 19 November Dublin 5-6 November
Key benefits to you attending include Increase your innovation pipeline and discover unique, immersive tasting opportunities to support your product development. Meet the industry leading innovators and explore a range of nutritional, sustainable and affordable solutions in one place. Immerse yourself in live tasting sessions to discover first-hand the taste, texture, colour and mouthfeel of new ingredients. Learn about the latest market trends through panel discussions with industry leaders. Connect with your industry peers and benefit for in-depth conversations with leading innovators.
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“Do you really want to tell them you’ve reformulated if the product delivers on taste and price?” by Ross Carver-Carter Tastes of Better introduced a series of insight sessions at Ascot, featuring an expert roster of industry panellists to offer their thoughts and experience. Here is what they identified as the big issues facing the reformulation industry in the next 12 months.
Jules Greene (L), insights specialist at Good Sense Research and Ronald Nyakairu (R), head of insight at the Local Data Co.
Health by stealth • Despite consistently ranking as a key purchasing decision for consumers, a perception that HFSS reformulated foods also means a compromise when it comes to taste persists, especially in the confectionary or snack categories where comfort, indulgence and taste are the main selling points. In a suggestion that echoed throughout the two days, Saquib Ramday, head of category development at Tate and Lyle, suggested silent reformulation, or gradually improving the nutritional profile of food products without shouting about it to consumers, was the way forward. • Other industry insiders also discussed successful “health by stealth” initiatives, including Mike Faers, CEO of Food Innovation Solutions, who highlighted a covert operation to reduce salt in McDonald’s nuggets. He argued the industry has a moral responsibility to reformulate for health, so long as taste isn’t a casualty, saying: “It’s incumbent on us to see how low we can go without harming taste.” And Edward Bergen, senior analyst at FutureBridge, asked: “Do you really want to tell them you’ve reformulated if the product delivers on taste and price?”.
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Proactive vs reactive
Upcycling comes of age
• Is the food industry a passive servant to consumer demand? Or should it seek to shape consumer behaviours for the good of their health and the planet? Julie Owst, head of sustainability at Bidfood, argued that food companies have a “responsibility to do the right thing” instead of shifting expectations to consumers, many of whom are under price pressures. “There needs to be more moral leadership from the food industry… we can’t put it all on consumers.”
• Turning waste into ingredients and into revenue is moving from niche to mainstream at pace. Upcycling now presents an attractive prospect to any brand, offering new income streams and helping to tackle the roughly 2.5 billion tonnes of food waste produced each year, but also in the eyes of consumers. And with shoppers increasingly prioritising sustainability and brand storytelling, the market is ripe for products finding creative ways to turn “trash” into “treasure” and byproducts into new ones.
• Tesco’s Gail Stevenson suggested the industry has a moral obligation to act, saying: “big food retailers have a responsibility to offer sustainable, healthy products to consumers”. However, Sterling Crew, president of the institute for food science and technology, said the industry is a mirror reflecting consumer desires, and consumers won’t change without intervention from the government, saying ultimately there are only “two things” that change consumer behaviour, “regulation and tax.”
VIPs could take a break from sampling food to hear insight from industry experts discussing the innovation space
• During a lively session on future trends, Edward Bergen identified “massive potential” in upcycled ingredients and predicted steady growth in products “extracting nutrition from waste or side-streams” while IFF’s marketing director Vincent Mathys also discussed the growing popularity of upcycling, saying it lends itself to powerful sustainability storytelling, and, by extension, appeals to the growing number of valuedriven consumers identified by Jules Greene and Robert Pyle on day one. “The brands that make it in today’s market are those with a great narrative and messaging,” he said, especially those who “get creative in their ingredient sourcing”.
Penny Willson (R), head of R&D innovation at Britvic, and Gail Stevenson (L), insight partner for health at Tesco
INSIGHT
Regulation vs reality
Processed panic
• Whilst welcoming action on issues such as plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, Mike Adams, head of product innovation at Campden BRI, stressed the need for these to be evidence-based and nuanced. Otherwise, he said, we risk doing more harm than good and falling victim to “the law of unintended consequences”. As an example, he highlighted single-use plastic straws introduced in 2020, celebrated at the time for protecting aquatic life and minimising plastic pollution.
• Ultra-processed foods have become the latest food-related villain for consumers and the tabloids. The result is a growing stigma around processed food products in general, adding to the existing trend among consumers to move away from anything d e e m e d ove r tly “s y n th etic ” towa rd s more “natural” or even “traditional” food items in their place. Ultra-processed foods were a recurring topic throughout the two days, with numerous criticisms being levelled at the NOVA classification system and the UPF label more generally.
• However, he told the crowd that many of the paper straws used in their place contain PFA’s or “forever chemicals” – compounds found to be harmful to human health. The industry is now scrambling to test for these along supply chains as part of due diligence, but questions remain about the damage they’ve reaped already. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” he warned. Bidfood’s Owst also highlighted the importance of seeing the bigger picture when it comes to sustainable formulation, warning against the potential pitfalls of single-minded approaches. She went on to explain how a blinkered effort to create a low-carbon footprint product could risk jeopardising animal welfare, biodiversity, and water use.
VIP guests heard from industry experts on topics including affordable nutrition and sustainable NPD
• Panellists noted that judging a food by its level of processing isn’t a reliable indicator of its nutritional value, even if ultra-processed foods are on average more unhealthy than minimally processed ones. For example, a shop-bought seeded loaf could be lumped with a Turkey Twizzler, despite the vastly different nutritional profiles of each. Clara Mombashura, senior consumer insights manager at Tate and Lyle, called on the food industry to do more to build trust with consumers, saying they should “work to better educate the public around what food processing entails”.
IFF’s Vincent Mathys was one of the industry experts offering his opinion during a Q&A with the floor
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Croke Park will host the first Tastes of Better Dublin between 12 - 13 March 2024
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Expanding Horizons by James Halliwell
There are brilliantly talented people doing incredibly innovative things with food up and down the country, but with the honourable exception of the Birmingham NEC, many events are held down south. Why?
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A lot of participants felt it was very beneficial for them to have the event here in Manchester, and we had a lot of very positive feedback about our new products and new technology.
Why should London have all the fun? And the flavours, the ingredients and the insight? It’s no secret that the north has lagged behind the south in terms of investment and activity since the 1980s, although the regeneration of cities like Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham has been significant in recent years. But food development is just one area where the catering for the north of the country could be improved, hence Tastes of Better Manchester, and new for 2024, Tastes of Better Dublin. “There are a huge amount of food companies in the M62 corridor that needed serving,” says Food Matters Live managing director Briony Mansell-Lewis. “There is so much innovation coming out of there and we wanted to recognise that. Like a lot of things relating to business and industry in the UK, it doesn’t always have to be southern-centric.” The next Manchester Tastes of Better takes place at Old Trafford (the home of Lancashire Cricket Club rather than Manchester United F.C.) in May 2024, but
there is no doubt the first was warmly received by all involved, particularly those who had wanted to attend the first Tastes of Better event in London but were dissuaded by the distance required to travel (and the aborted HS2 won’t change that now). “It’s been really good to meet lots of different people from the F&D industry further up north,” said Jane Staniforth, scientific customer services manager for food at RSSL, echoing a broadly expressed sentiment heard throughout the day. “Being part of the first ever TOB in Manchester has been absolutely brilliant and the reaction from customers and potential customers has been superb,” said Darren Seaborn, a senior account manager at DSM-Firmenich. “There has been such a massive spread of customers, from large manufacturers down to independents, and lots of local businesses from Manchester. We had some top-level conversations while they were eating.” As for IFF, its sales leader for North Europe Laurent Venzi said to be “part of the first event here was fantastic, because a lot of
E X PA N D I N G TA S T E S
Tastes of Better started out in London before expanding
Tastes of Better arriving in Manchester in May
participants couldn’t join us at the London event at the Oval. Visiting Old Trafford was much more local for lots of them, and there was a very natural dynamic, it was excellent. I think a lot of participants felt it was very beneficial for them to have the event here in Manchester and we had a lot of very positive feedback about our new products and new technology.” All of which made the decision to go even further afield to Dublin in 2024 an entirely natural one. Croke Park is the fourth biggest stadium in Europe, with an 82, 300 capacity, and it may need every inch to contain the amount of food arriving in November. But of course Tastes of Better isn’t just about the tasting the latest intriguing innovations in food, it’s also about the accompanying insight into what these innovations can do to benefit developers looking to achieve all manner of things. Food developers all over the UK are beset by tricky challenges. Tastes of Better exists to offer the solutions. And you don’t have to live down south to find them.
Dublin is next for the expanding event
TOB hits London in April 2024, Manchester in May 2024, and Dublin in November 2024.
Nicknamed the ‘Croker’ by locals, Tastes of Better will arrive at the venue on the 5th and 6th of November 2024. It will be sandwiched in-between Tastes of Better Manchester, which will host two events on 22 May and 19 November 2024.
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Are you ready for the EUDR?
by Felipe Guerrero Executive VP, Daabon Group
SPONSORED BY DAABON The EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) that came into force on the 29th of June 2023 will require any importer or trader of soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee, rubber and some of their derived products such as leather, chocolate, tyres or furniture to provide proof of no deforestation upon entering the EU. All stakeholders have 18 months from the enforcement date to guarantee accurate and audited documentation providing geolocation of the plantations and third-party verification of no deforestation since 31 December 2020. A s a b u s i n e s s ca s e exa m p l e , we present Daabon’s commitment to, and compliance with, the EUDR regarding palm oil production. The aim is to make Daabon’s position clear to the industry, and also potentially help other businesses understand what they have to do in the way of due diligence to prepare. Daabon is dedicated to adhering to the highest environmental and ethical standards in our operations, with a strong focus on sustainable palm oil production. Our commitment to sustainability recognises the critical importance of addressing deforestation, environmental degradation, and social concerns associated with palm oil production. As such, we have developed and implemented a comprehensive sustainability framework that aligns with the EU’s efforts to combat deforestation. It can be broken down into seven areas: • Policy: Our sustainability policy has established a conversion threshold for 2004 and 2011 for deforestation, this is in
line with the fundamentals of the RSPO definition of deforestation, and adherence to the organisation. • Traceability and supply chain control: Daabon has established a robust traceability system to monitor our palm oil supply chain. We use geolocation technology for all the fruit bunches harvested from any plantation feeding into any mill. We ensure our products do not contribute to illegal deforestation, and we actively collaborate with suppliers and stakeholders to maintain transparency throughout the supply chain. We publish information on our supply base, which is made up of third-party growers, mid-sized and smallholders, and our own plantations, which is updated yearly according to agricultural dynamics in the region (shapefiles, evaluations on NDPE). This allows for full transparency and scrutiny from our customers, and we also publish reports on our performance. • No-Deforestation commitment: We maintain a strict “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policy, which encompasses not only our own operations but also those of our suppliers. A large proportion of our crude palm oil and palm kernel oil comes from our own plantation, however, we also source from key partners in Colombia. When sourcing, Daabon has implemented a strict and responsible sourcing strategy to ensure that our palm oil is sourced from areas that have not been deforested. Any mill and/or plantation that we would buy from needs to pass our supplier approval audits. Furthermore, to ensure the highest conformity and quality of information, we have our own in-house specialist who monitors changes in land use and fire from
I N G R ED I EN T S S O U RC I N G
our satellite subscription. This applies to monitoring on the current base supply and the possible inclusions of areas. • Sustainable practices: Daabon actively promotes sustainable palm oil cultivation practices, which include adopting best management practices, protecting and monitoring High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas, and respecting the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples via Proforest, a third-party provider. • Certification and verification: We have sought certification from recognized sustainability standards such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Regenerative Organic Agriculture (ROC) and Fairtrade USA (FT) which reflect our commitment to sustainable palm oil production. Daabon also engages in regular third-party audits and verification processes to ensure compliance and full inclusion of our supply base to the certifications that the company currently holds. • Transparency and collabora tion: Daabon believes in open and constructive dialogue with industry partners, NGOs, and regulator y authorities. We are dedicated to working collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to drive continuous improvement in our sustainability practices and ensure our compliance with EUDR. We invite our customers to open up the dialogue to a constructive discussion on the previous steps before legislation is enforced. • C o n t i n u o u s i m p r ove m e n t : We acknowledge that the journey toward sustainable palm oil production is ongoing, and Daabon is committed to continuous improvement. We are investing in research, innovation, and sustainable practices to reduce our environmental footprint further and contribute positively to the communities and ecosystems where we operate. Daabon takes its responsibilities regarding the EUDR on palm oil production very
Daabon promotes sustainable palm oil cultivation
It has a strict no deforestation committment
Daabon takes sustainable palm oil “very seriously”
seriously and we are passionate about caring for the land we operate on. We are currently in the discussion group that the RSPO has set up, which will meet bimonthly to understand the mechanism that the EU will adopt in order to comply. We are fully committed to compliance with these new laws, and we are unwavering in our dedication to sus tainabilit y, responsible sourcing, and protecting our planet’s vital ecosystems. We are looking for ward to helping many food and non-food manufacturers source palm oil, palm kernel oil, blends and derivatives in a guaranteed sustainable way, so they can focus on their manufacturing and rest assured they have the most sustainable oil.
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P O D C A S T EP I S O D E
A fibre fortified fermented milk drink with fresh berries
At Tastes of Better, Tate & Lyle served up a triple selection of fibre fortified snacks to VIP guests
Cucumber pearls and white balsamic canapé cracker
SPONSORED BY TATE & LYLE Eat more fibre. We’ve all heard this before, but there’s a significant fibre deficit in European diets. So why does the problem still exist, and what are we doing about it? At Tastes of Better Ascot, Tate & Lyle invited guests to be part of a live ‘TV show’ audience, as food journalist Stefan Gates spoke to the Tate & Lyle experts putting it at the forefront of solutions to elevate product innovation with fibre across categories.
A high-fibre apple, oat and cinnamon mini-muffin
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE
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OPINION
The secret of successful innovation? Knowing where consumers are going next
by Olly Henshall Innovation consultant at Food Innovation Solutions
Successful innovation means using trends and insights as a language of clues to help us to decipher the needs, desires, and expectations of consumers. It is important to not only understand what the trends are, but also why and how they are emerging to unlock the truly valuable consumer insights. These high-level insights, known as consumer drivers, are valuable assets when innovating and developing products and services for our evolving world. Here are three examples helping to shape industry trends for 2023 and beyond...
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It’s the new culinary buzzword, describing cultural innovations linked to dual heritage.
Adventurism
Comfort cuisine
The Food and Drink landscape is undergoing a constant transformation, thanks to an insatiable curiosity for exploration that indicates a broader ethos of cultural openness throughout society. Social media has enabled users to virtually globetrot, breaking down geographical boundaries to allow for safe exploration of cuisines that once seemed worlds apart. Traditionally, fusion cuisine has been an in-organic amalgamation of ingredients, regarded as passe for some time now. Recently however, it’s been under a bit of a rebrand. ‘Third culture’ cuisine is the new culinary buzz word, describing cross cultural inventions linked to the dual heritage of individuals. This has given integrity to playful mash ups of ingredients and formats that otherwise would have been disregarded as blasphemous. Cuisine fusions continue to evolve with anything from Chinese burrata dishes and miso cacio e pepe appearing on menus. With consumers actively embracing ingredients, techniques, and traditions hailing from every corner of the globe. This gastronomic renaissance has created an opportunity for daring innovation and endless opportunity.
As people struggle with serious global issues like the cost-of-living crisis, they often turn to super comforting foods. Comfort food may seem be an old favourite rather than an emerging trend, or maybe it’s just perennially popular. Either way the cost-of-living crisis has led many consumers to seek out some form of reassuring familiarity and stability, and comfort cuisine is just that. It takes many forms, from revamped childhood favourites delighting again, to the simplicity of a cheese toastie. That’s because nostalgia and simplicity are often at the heart of this desire for food to feed the soul. This isn’t about health but is all about ‘food that makes you feel good’ - which is exactly what many consumers are craving to lift their spirits. One thing that’s also important to consider is what’s nostalgic and comforting to you may be different to other someone else’s idea. But across all cultures there are some consistent theme… carbs, fried foods and a sense of ‘safety’ all seem to resonate. It may not exactly be your childhood favourite, but it still needs to feel like home.
OPINION
Fermented foods are rapidly gaining in popularity and look set to be omnipresent in 2024
Eco-nomical eating Consumers are being forced to evaluate every pound they spend. It’s not all pennypinching though. We’ve seen that consumers are still willing to spend if they think the product offers value for money. An area that often represents value to consumers is products that have a sustainable slant. It doesn’t need to promise to save the planet, but benefits like reduced wastage, longer shelf life and non-plastic packaging can all give a product a green tinged halo. What it really means is that consumers are becoming savvier to what things cost, and redefining what they think is ‘worth it’. This has driven a resurgence in preservation methods that previously fell slightly out of fashion, as they offer both lower cost and a long shelf life. Posh tinned products are hitting the market, frozen food continues to ditch its often unfair perceptions of poor quality, and pickles and ferments can be spotted everywhere from high end restaurants to street food joints as the fermentation trend continues to add punch to UK plates.
Natural and simple ingredients tap into the ‘comfort-cuisine’ trend for food scientists and developers in 2024
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I N T ERV I E W
Edlong isn’t just reinventing food, it’s creating it... SPONSORED BY EDLONG Most people involved in the plant-based when it’s processed?’ And he said: ‘Oh I food space would agree that the amount of don’t know. We haven’t done any of that.’ technological and scientific development So, it might be great on its own but what taking place is startling, and they would happens when it becomes part of a food probably agree the sector has mastered or beverage matrix? That is the key. The replicating appearances. amount of people who say they have a However, they may also suggest there really clean ingredient is great, but is it is room for improvement when it comes to still clean when it’s finished being put into taste, and one reason for that, something else? That’s the real and there are several, is the tell-tale.” feverish pace of development. It’s an example of a scientific “I think people get very excited focus on individual ingredients, by some of the new ingredients rather than a chef-like approach and forget that taste is still the to building combinations. “If you top priority for consumers,” says think about the dairy industry, Anne Marie Butler, global director people are specialists in different of strategy and innovation at types of dairy proteins, they’re Edlong. not specialists in dairy products,” Anne Marie Butler “I was at an event a couple she says. Global director of strategy and innovation at Edlong of months ago, where this guy “That’s the difference. We’re came up to me and he was like, an industry of scientists, and ‘Oh my god, I have the best ingredient ever. scientists think about the science of it. It’s amazing. It’s so clean.’ And I was like And when you come at it from a science ‘Wonderful. What’s the deal?’ And he said, perspective, you can lose sight of the fact ‘Oh, it’s a very, very nutritious protein. It’s that there’s a consumer at the end of it, got a PDCAAS of one’. because your goal is to make it functionally So I said: ‘How does it taste when put wonderful. You want the protein to function into other ingredients? How does it taste like a dairy protein, or you want the protein to
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TA S T E S O F B E T T ER be digestible and give you the nutrition you want. But that only happens if a consumer is willing to eat the product. So, you need that bridge between the real science and on the consumer’s overall eating experience.” It comes down to achieving a balance between art and science. “I’m not a chef, but I think about things like one. How do these things work together? How do I balance that? We tend to forget that there’s more than one component, but you’ve got to think about the whole application. If I’m developing something, I think about what it needs to do. When is the consumer going to eat this? Is it going to be hot or cold? It’s about the overall experience of how you consume it, I think about all those things before I even put pen to paper, I’m thinking about the end goal. Then, how am I going to work backwards to achieve it? What do we need the nutrition to look like? So you work backwards, not from the star t. It ’s thinking about the consumer the whole way through the journey. It’s about the overall experience of how a product is consumed, from how that first note hits the mouth to the texture and how it breaks down.” It’s important to think from the assembly of the base ingredients and how they work together, while at the same time working backwards from the desired consumption experience. I suggest this holistic approach is no less than you’d expect from people trying to reinvent food, but she says “I am going to correct you, I don’t like that term, reinvent food. Creating new foods is what we’re doing. We’re not reinventing food.”
that perception of reinvention because instead of going ‘Here’s a new type of product, it’s wonderful but it doesn’t come from the cow’. Instead, we’ve gone ‘It’s plant-based cheese’. So we looked like we’re reinventing it, but really we’re creating a new product. “And the difference with plant-based is you have much more room for innovation. you can develop new varieties of cheese using different cultures, or you can change the fat or milk source but at the end it’s still cheese. “In Plant based we are creating a whole new eating experience. I think we need to stop confining ourselves into being plant-based or alternative and think of it jus t as d eve l o p i n g o t h e r f o o d options that consumers can add to their diet. “And, yes, it might have better sustainability and it might be better for the planet, and that’s wonderful. But the key purchase drivers for consumers are mostly around taste.” Any discussion about taste must acknowledge that taste itself is subjective on an individual level. Or, to put it another way, some people can’t handle anything other than cool Doritos, some enjoy plain old regular, and some go bananas for Chilli Heatwave. Perhaps with a lot of plant-based foods, that individual element has been compromised by a homogenous pursuit of a product that tastes great to as many people as possible. So it all tastes a little bit ‘regular’. “You have to acknowledge that one solution doesn’t fit all and never will. Therefore, the flavour solutions need to be different. You have to work at it more in plant-based to adjust your profile to the right kind of market or consumer. “What’s the release? Is it coming through as vanilla, milky, sweet, or is it coming through a sweet, vanilla, then milky? There’s a massive difference. It might not seem like there is but that can be the difference
I don’t like that term, reinvent food. Creating new foods is what we’re doing.
Wonderful But it does look like they are doing that, on a superficial level anyway. “That ’s our fault, I think. In the industry we’ve created
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Edlong is focused on taste, and it showcased some extraordinary combinations at Tastes of Better
between considering a product to be really tasty and authentic, versus: ‘Yeah, it’s fine’. We strive for tasty and authentic.” There are also other complex reasons why some plant-based products coming onto the market don’t taste as terrific as they could, ranging from straightforward geographical variations, for instance the preferred sweetness level in Europe is different to that in America. Regulatory differences also mean different countries require different ingredients to formulate a recipe. “The regulatory space can dictate an awful lot. Just as one example, shea butter is approved to be used in food in Europe, but not in the US, not yet anyway. So you have to formulate products differently for each region, and obviously that can affect the taste.” It’s also fair to suggest that the plantbased space remains in its infancy, that it has come an astonishing way in a short space of time and will continue to improve. “I think we’re at the early stages of something that could be extremely beneficial to consumers on the planet,” she says. “I don’t think it’ll ever be a case of one completely replacing the other. I do think there’s the opportunity to have a successful cultivated meat product, a successful plant
Bright colours and bold flavours
version, and have real meat, and it just becomes what your personal preference is. I think the biggest challenge we have in the food industry is how we communicate that. That’s a piece that’s critical.” But, of course, this is food, so although it “might be the biggest understatement of the century, taste is key,” she says. “And I’m not saying that as somebody in the flavour industry, I’m saying that as a consumer. You cannot hope to sustain the planet if you cannot provide great tasting food. And my job in this industry is figuring out what the challenges are with new ingredients, products and processing, and finding ways to make that food taste great.”
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Life as a development chef vs life as a restaurant chef SPONSORED BY IFF “I’ve worked in Michelin starred kitchens courses eaten by guests while they listened doing 20 hours a day, seven days a week,” to how those courses were developed. says IFF development chef Chet Willcock. IFF’s next Tastes of Better starts in “It’s absolutely brutal. You’re under constant eight weeks, at Royal Ascot, and places pressure, all the time.” are still available. This time around IFF’s The relentless hours of the restaurant theme is ‘Race Around the World’, with kitchen are just one reason why chefs switch dishes inspired by South Korea, Vietnam, from restaurant kitchens to development Argentina, Puerto Rico and more. Many kitchens. Willcock began working as a will show off the versatility of IFF’s latest development chef in 2014, following a textured protein. career working everywhere from “When I started using it, as with gastropubs to three Michelin any textured protein, I’d look at starred restaurants. it, analyse it, and understand He says commercial kitchens how it behaves first before I try test the limits of anyone physically, anything with it,” Willcock says but working as a development about the textured protein, which chef is demanding in other ways. has the trademark SUPRO® TEX, “There is a constant pressure to and which IFF has described as be ahead of the curve, all the a “paradigm shift” in the quality time,” he says. of textured proteins. Chet Willcock, “In the early days you could “I want to know what key development chef at IFF essentially mimic a meat product processes it best lends itself to, and the consumer would think ‘Wow, we’ve like frying, braising, steaming or boiling. never seen anything like this before, this is Then I can start to narrow down the flavour amazing!’ Now the plant based sector is profiles that are best going to suit it, like very saturated and shoppers are wanting Asian or European. Then we focus on the more from a product and that puts more textural side of the protein. Instead of just pressure and stress on the development dropping it in to a sauce, I want to find out process.” what happens if I vac-pac it and sous-vide This pressure is countered in two ways, it? Then what happens if I braise it first, namely innovation and teamwork. Previous then vac-pac, it, then sous-vide it. Maybe IFF sessions at Tastes of Better have been that’s even better? expertly delivered, with tasting menu “Then maybe we would try something else,
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“There is no point in me coming up with weird and wonderful flavour combinations when it’s not going to lend itself to the manufacturing process. That’s quite a large hurdle that we need to cross, and there is a fine line between development and disaster.”
IFF’s unicorn drink, which offers a creamy mouthfeel
Everything about IFF’s menu was instagrammable
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I do miss getting my arse kicked sometimes. because a lot of it is curiosity, just to see what it might do. But there’s no point in me coming up with weird and wonderful flavour combinations or cooking techniques when it’s not going to lend itself to the manufacturing process. So that’s quite a large hurdle that we need to cross, and there’s a fine line between development and disaster.”
media, blogs, supermarket shelves, food service or restaurants, and come up with a list of flavour profiles. “Then we’ll understand if we can actually translate those into the products that we sell, because it might not always be possible.” And he works “very closely with the technical teams. It’s a very, very important part of the development process. When I first joined it was the middle of lockdown, so I wasn’t actually doing the role that I was employed for, instead I was in the labs, designing and developing some of these products as well. So I got firsthand experience of the technical side of things which has been incredibly useful going forward.”
Sweet spot Willcock works with IFF’s culinary, marketing and technical teams, absorbing their collective insights into the development tastes, looks, or performs. The product has to be suitable for mass manufacture first. And it has to pass the stringent legal and regulatory requirements associated with food & beverages. And then finally, in perhaps the biggest test of all, it has to please the tastes of the masses. To hit the “sweet spot” he has “quite a bit of interaction with Eden Derrick (a fellow IFF development chef) over Teams, and at customer events like Food Matters Live”. Both men were in the kitchen at Tastes of Better at Ascot, where the food went down brilliantly with assembled VIP guests, with one saying: “I taste a lot of plant-based foods and I have to say, this is very different, in a very good way”. Back to Willcock’s work at IFF though, and from a day to day perspective his main interactions are with the “culinary design team, which designs and develops products to go into savoury products, from seasonings, marinades and pastes.” He also spends time with the IFF marketeers to “understand what’s trending and what will be trending in the future. I’ll take that away and analyse various different points of information like social
Eliminating risk Of course there are several stages of tasting as the product develops. But he says of “paramount importance” is the commercial viability of the product. “ The account manager s and the commercial team make sure that the products we’re developing are with the best interests of the consumer in mind, and they trust us to hit the necessary commercial targets as well. “ Ultimately we work as a team to produce something that looks good, tastes good, will sell well, and is commercially viable. Those are the four things that are of paramount importance when you first start developing a product.” Willcock says he’s ten years into working in development after “taking the leap” from a commercial kitchen. “There are times where I look back and I do miss getting my arse kicked every now and then. I do miss that. I have a friend of mine, he’s got a couple of gastropubs, and I go and help him out from time to time. It’s good to have a way to get in there and feel the pressure and the adrenaline rush of service. It’s nice. And it’s also nice to think that I don’t have to go back there the next day and do it all over again.”
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About us Food Matters Live holds events focused on innovation, sustainability and nutrition. It also releases digital publications and podcasts. New for 2023, Tastes of Better is a groundbreaking concept that brings buyers and suppliers together to enjoy the finest examples of ingredients innovation and explore how they were developed. After an successful first year in London and Manchester, the event is now expanding to include Dublin. Everything you need to know can be found at www.foodmatterslive.com.
TA S T E S O F B E T T E R T E A M
Sarah Creber PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER Sarah is partnerships manager at Food Matters Live, and your expert point of contact for anything you wish to know about Tastes of Better. sarah.creber@foodmatterslive.com
Caroline Roberts CLIENT GROWTH MANAGER With a background rooted in nutrition and food science, Caroline has established a strong network through her commercial roles across the food and beverage sector. caroline.roberts@foodmatterslive.com
James Halliwell BUSINESS EDITOR An award-winning journalist, James has spent much of his career covering the food and drink industry. james.halliwell@foodmatterslive.com
Briony Mansell-Lewis MANAGING DIRECTOR Briony has over 20 years of experience in business to business events and publishing. She specialises in leadership, strategy, events and digital content. briony.mansell-lewis@foodmatterslive.com
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A huge thank you to all our partners in 2023 and those we are looking forward to welcoming in 2024.
And thank you to our many VIP guests from businesses including Mondelez, Disney, Tesco, 2 Sisters, Innocent, Mueller, Greggs, Kellogg’s, Nestle, McDonald’s and far too many more to mention. Food Matters Live would like to wish you all a lovely rest of 2023, and we are all looking forward to Tastes of Better in 2024.