Last week saw the return of the International Food & Drink Event, taking over London’s ExCel for 3 whole days of discovery. The highly anticipated fixture welcomed retailers, wholesalers, and food service professionals to explore sourcing of products, taste delicious food and drinks, and network with industry peers, in another year of success.
If you’ve been following the socials, you’ll know of the hundreds of exceptional products that were showcased from around the globe that made their mark. Here, we round up our top 5 finds:
Cheebab
Cheebab is aiming to start a revolution in the kebab market. There’s something contradictory about the concept of a hearty kebab versus fine Swiss cheese, but the team has cooked up this marvel that has vegetarians’ clear attention. Developed as the world’s first real cheese on a skewer, it offers a mild, milky, and well-balanced salty flavour that can easily be prepared using a simple rotisserie grill that seals in the delicious flavours, and added to breads, salads, and grains of choice. We’ve tried it – it’s absolutely delicious.
With a UK store opening potentially on the horizon, this may be the next best thing since our favourite meaty late night snack.
Zorbas
If you’ve ever been to Cyprus, the nationally beloved bakery will be no stranger to you.
Serving up delicious Greek and Cypriot delicacies, from fresh spanakopita and loukanikopita to syrupy loukoumades and decadent galaktoboureko, Zorbas look to expand their presence to the UK market through their authentic offering. Packed with rich Mediterranean taste and texture, this is certainly one to excite Greeks and non-Greeks alike.
Heura
Looking to continue its domination of the meat-alternative market, Spanish brand Heura showcased some of their best and newest at IFE this year. Its chicken that Heura focusses on, creating an ‘ultra-realistic’ replacement that’s versatile and full of flavour – but it aims to conquer in an all-round meat revolution. It has already built up invaluable relationships with some big names in the fast food industry, and looks to grow to be a staple in the culinary world with its amongst others, burgers, nugget, meatball, and sausage creations.
Lucy’s
Lucy’s has been making its mark on the UK almost since its inception. The now award-winning brand starting off on a kitchen table experiment with simple, fresh ingredients being transformed into something more exciting, and is now loved for its deep flavours and well-balanced textures that make perfect accompaniments for meals.
Certain product ranges are already stocked in the frontrunners of the British grocery scene, such as Waitrose, Whole Foods, and Selfridges, and Lucy’s is looking to become the household name and treat that no meal can go without.
Definite Chocolate
With sustainably and ethically produced chocolate is slowly becoming an accepted norm, Definite Chocolate are at the forefront of the movement in Dominican Republic – and what they’ve created is nothing short of divine. Their speciality is dark chocolate, no frills and no additives, and with ingredients organically sourced from local farmers and producers.
Working closely with the farmers themselves, Divine Chocolate invests in improving not only the livelihoods of the people involved in all aspects of the chain, but also in the physical aspects such as the ingredients and farms, working hard to constantly improve the quality of the cacao bean itself. The brand supports the local businesses, the ecology, and in turn, the flavour and standard of the premium chocolate it offers itself. Our taste test suggests it is already a huge success.
If you’d like to discover the stories and products behind the brilliant exhibiting brands of 2022, you can find the full list here.
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