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Last week, FoodBev Media attended the Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2024, where we announced this year’s winners of our Plant-Based Taste Awards.

Held at the iconic Olympia conference centre in London, UK, from 10-11 September, the event saw some of the food and beverage industry’s finest brands come together to showcase their speciality delights under one roof.

Ingredients from around the world, such as high-quality olives and local cheeses from Spain, were presented alongside some of the UK’s own finest food brands – many addressing specific dietary needs, such as plant-based/vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free foods, as well as responding to the growing demand for minimally processed, clean label and reduced sugar options amid rising health nutrition awareness.

Among the highlights was the opportunity to try artisan bean brand The Bold Bean Co’s brand-new gourmet baked beans line, launched last week in three flavourful variants: classic, rich tomato and smoky chilli. The brand has garnered attention for its refreshed outlook on the humble legume, illustrating how its high-quality and sustainably sourced jarred beans can provide a sophisticated new take on the traditionally canned classics.

UK start-up Saucerer – which entered the market this year with a new range of stir-in pasta sauces – was also proud to present an ethos of high-quality, natural ingredients, adding a ‘gourmet’ touch to the pre-prepared cooking sauces category. Its line promises ‘restaurant-quality’ flavours in a convenient format, made with plant-based and low-sugar ingredients with no artificial additives.

It showcased its core range of flavours, which includes roasted aubergine and harissa; plant-based chorizo and smoky red pepper; and wild mushroom and truffle oil, as well as a new ‘Calabrian hot’ pasta sauce collaboration with London-based restaurant, Tom’s Pasta.

Innovative sauces held a huge presence at the event, from Chilli No. 5’s ‘designer’ chilli sauces range made with ‘superfoods,’ antioxidants and health supplements, through to Peat’d, presenting a ‘first-of-its-kind’ range of peat-smoked tomato pasta sauces, still in their initial launch stage with a limited run of just 500 jars per flavour. The company uses peat – an organic layer of soil that produces an aromatic smoke – to flavour its sauce portfolio, while emphasising a focus on its peatland regeneration efforts, which Peat’d assured “enables us to give more than we take”.

Meanwhile, All Dressed Up presented its line of salad dressings – showcased in ‘everyday house,’ miso and sesame, tahini and lime, and spicy harissa flavours – which aim to provide a flavourful solution for those seeking sauces free from dairy, gluten and refined sugar.

The focus on reduced sugar and other nutritional qualities was evident at a time when consumer awareness of ingredient lists, processing and general nutritional health has reached an all-time high.

Neat Sweets offered attendees the chance to try its confectionery range at the event, which contains less than two grams of sugar per serving, aiming to fill a gap in the market for healthier options that can still satisfy sweet cravings. And UK cereal brand Superkeen presented a collection of its plant-based cereal products, made from natural ingredients such as tiger nut and cassava flour, all developed to be entirely vegan, gut-friendly and free from the country’s top 14 most common allergens.

The topic of healthy ingredients and ultra-processed foods was explored in a fascinating panel discussion during the event’s first day, titled ‘What the UPF?!’

Chaired by Debbie Davies, founder of Contigo Management, it offered up insightful takes from panellists Mark Thomson, co-founder of F&B market insights firm TRKR; Stu Macdonald, founder of peanut butter brand ManiLife; registered nutritionist Nikki Dunford from Green Dene Nutrition; and Sophie Gastman, chef trainer at organisation Chefs in Schools, which aims to transform school food education.

The talk explored how the food and beverage industry categorises and approaches the hot topic of ultra-processed foods, delving into the matter with a nuanced view of what is frequently reduced to a simple concept, and how we can encourage a healthier F&B industry that places its focus on nutritious, whole food ingredients, without ‘demonising’ consumers who may be struggling to eat well due to economic and time pressures.

Finally, of course, FoodBev’s Plant-Based Taste Awards winners were revealed in a live-streamed presentation by FoodBev marketing director Dan Bunt. Those that took the top spots were highly praised by our panel of judges, who blind taste-tested all of the entries put forward for this year, with winning entrants including Beyond Meat, Nasoya, Steakholder Foods, Fry’s, Booja-Booja and more. You can read a full list of this year’s winners here.

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