Information on fruit & vegetable promotional campaigns around Europe and beyond

Freshfel Europe collects this information from different sources to the best of its knowledge. Freshfel Europe is in no way responsible for the content of the articles used. For any questions or further information, please contact Daphne van Doorn or Nelli Hajdu at the Association’s Secretariat.

Number 3/2017 – 4th of July 2017

Note from the editor: Fresh Times – Fresh Fruits – Fresh Faces

Half of 2017 is already over and this is the 3rd  Fresh Time issue for this year…again full with a colourful basket of travel memories, playful new ideas and old evergreens in new shoes. And as it is in life, you always need something fresh from time to time – and that’s why Fresh Times is welcoming a new author, who will bring fresh spirit and will from now on detect for you the finest and most exciting campaigns to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables and beyond. Nicola is half Australian and half Italian…. This background can only be a guarantee for a fruitful fresh beginning! For this issue we looked literally “from farm to fork” – including exciting educational projects and projects with regard to a sustainable link between the avoidance of food waste and consumption. Good news are ahead as well: finally food blogging and vegetables find each other in a good match! Enjoy the read and the summer!

Portugal: Fresh news from my travel diary

As frequent traveler, and always in service for the best product in the world – even in my holidays, I travel with open eyes. Lisbon, capital of Portugal, town of trams, Fado and sardines took my heart. Small little streets, uphill and downhill, a beautiful castle … and in front of it: a beautiful stand offering fresh strawberries and cherries – exactly the refreshing right thing after a tough climb in the midday heat of a late May day – at a spot where you normally find Ice-cream, soft-drinks or other sweet and sticky products. And once discovered, these stands popped up everywhere. At the Praça do Comércio, in the tiny streets of Alfama and Bairro Alto. No brands, no names. Just fruit! Good, healthy and refreshing. Truly, Lisbon made it to No.1 of my very personal healthy-city ranking… Let’s see what comes next?

 

 

Germany: And in the beginning there was the seed…

In times of urbanization and continuous disconnection from agricultural production, school garden projects are most important, to make children understand where there food is coming from. Playing with the soil, growing veggies and being at fresh air is similar important than mathematics and other subjects. Understanding the cycle of agricultural production is important to learn to evaluate the effort, which has been made, until the food finds its way at the plate. Landgard Foundation has therefore just started a pilot project and equipped five schools in Germany with raised beds, plants and equipment. As nationally famous TV host Johannes B. Kerner is supporting with its own foundation the personal development of children, he took over the patronage of the project. What has been a pilot project with 5 schools will now be expanded, and primary schools all across Germany can apply. The project kicked off with action days in 3 different federal states.

The Netherlands: Food bloggers in tomato heaven

What happens when you take a group of food bloggers on a journey into the world of tomatoes? They discover a whole new world of tomato-y recipes that they never would have come across otherwise of course! Online consumer platform Love my Salad did just that on the 9th June, taking German, Austrian, and Dutch food bloggers on a tomato extravaganza. At the event, hosted by Prominent Tomatoes, the bloggers attended a tomato workshop in Rotterdam, visited LEMA Tomaten, a family owned tomato farm and participated in a ‘Big Green Egg’ barbecue and ‘salad challenge’. These days, many people, whether young or old, follow food bloggers as a source of inspiration for their own home cooking and they are becoming “an important target group for the vegetable chain” affirmed Annelies Blauwkamer, the Community Manager of Love My Salad. Watch the food bloggers tomato-filled journey here!

Hungary: The nicest carrot cake…

…. can be done with the most imperfect produce. That’s what the supermarket store Tesco had already started and is now rolling out to Hungary and a couple of other Central European countries. While the leading country with regard to food waste is still the U.K., also the Central European countries tend to waste more food than necessary. The campaign tries to tackle the belief, that only perfectly shaped products are useful and provide the right quality. With claims such as “Also crooked carrots fit well in the soup” or “In mash potatoes anyway no one will see the former shape”, the campaign is trying to sensitize their clients to their own standards and shopping behaviours.  In season products are offered for a cheaper price… let’s see what will be the outcome…And here a quick reminder of the effects, these campaigns already had in the past….An anticipated effect: more affordable fruit and veg for everyone!

U.K.: Rainbow soup on the menu

They say you’ll turn orange if you eat too many carrots, but what happens if you eat one fruit or vegetable of every colour in the rainbow? For National Vegetarian Week Glorious Soups and dietician and lecturer Vicky Gould from Cardiff Metropolitan University teamed up to demonstrate the benefits of eating ‘a rainbow’ of fruit and vegetables, with Glorious Soups showcasing five of its vegetarian soups in different colours of the rainbow. The different soups in the ‘rainbow’ selection, include a purple Russian beetroot soup, a red Goan tomato and lentil soup, an orange Thai carrot soup, a yellow Brazilian super grain soup, and a green Vietnamese soup. Ms. Gould advises that by “eating a variety of colours you ensure your body gets everything it requires for optimum health”. Hopefully after the week, no-one turned into a multicolour rainbow!

Greece: Waste not want not 

Ever wondered what happens to fruit and vegetables that don’t make it from the farm to your local supermarket shelves or weekend food market stalls? The Central Market of Thessaloniki (CMT) is working with Bulgarian organisations to launch a project that ensures fresh produce that is still perfectly fine for consumption is not wasted. The main goal of the project is to collect fresh produce that wouldn’t normally be sold commercially and redistribute it to initiatives which support people in need, for example food banks. This means that the project will, as they say, kill two birds with one stone, by not only reducing food waste dramatically, but also by providing food for those who cannot easily access it. Yet to be approved by the European Commission, the project is set to be launched at the beginning of 2018, with the first source of fresh produce coming from CMT itself and its suppliers.

 

U.S. & Canada: Summer holiday race-ready recipes

The school holidays are fast-approaching and parents are already beginning to wonder how they’re going to feed their children on their annual summer break car journey to their summer holiday destination. This year, Dole, the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables, launched the Fuel Up with Dole programme aimed at solving this annual parental problem of keeping healthy eating on track over the holiday period. Starting on the 25th May, the programme, inspired by Disney Pixar’s new film Cars 3, helps parents create healthy meals and snacks for their children on the go. The programme includes recipes based on the Cars 3 characters, holiday nutrition tips for parents, as well as a family contest with prizes! So if you’re wondering how you’re going to feed your children on your annual road trip, get your engine stated, look up the Fuel Up with Dole programme and whip up some ‘race-ready recipes’!

The Netherlands: It’s the pirates life for me

Ahoy me’hearties! Is your child a picky eater? Does your child like dressing up as a pirate? If you answered yes to both these questions, the new board game De Reis van 5 (A Trip for Five) is right for you! De Reis van 5 is a board game designed to let your child discover the life of a pirate by doing creative and challenging healthy food assignments. During the game, children are encouraged to try new food products and learn about eating varied and healthy meals while still having fun! We couldn’t think of a better way to substitute arguments with your child over anything green at the dinner table than with absorbing yourself in the life and healthy food habits of a pirate sailing the seven seas!

U.K.: National vegetarian week with hairy chefs

Vegetarianism is not only a short-lived trend anymore, but truly became an inspiration for changing the dietary habits of the past. Even though not everyone is completely cutting out the meat, more and more “Reducitarians” are looking for healthy alternatives. Initiated by the British Vegetarian Society, the National Vegetarian Week 2017 (15 to 21 May), the week was full of inspiration of how fruits and vegetables can become the most important and most delicious part of the diet. Social media was a good disseminator and Instagram shows most of the beautiful and inspiring recipes posted with #nationalvegetarianweek …Moreover, British popular TV chefs, the “Hairy Bikers” joined the movement, not only supporting the week, but launching a veggie cookbook at this occasion, who came a long road down from “Meat feast” to “Go Veggie”…

Switzerland: Veggi bags galore

Never been a fan of the thin plastic bags used to buy loose fruit and vegetables? Fear not! Swiss cooperation Migros in cooperation with OceanCare has launched the sale of their new environmentally-friendly reusable bags for loose fruit and vegetables. The new ‘Veggie-Bags’ are made from 100% non-toxic and recyclable polyester in a transparent, light, fine-mesh design that allows shoppers to fold them up and keep them in their pocket. Another bonus of the ‘Veggie-Bags’ is that fresh produce barcode stickers may be easily applied and removed from the bags. The ‘Veggie-Bags’, which have a lower environmental impact than normal plastic bags used for loose fruit and vegetables if re-used at least six times, can also be machine washed at 30°C. And to top it all off, a set of four ‘Veggie-Bags’ will only set you back 9.90 Swiss Francs and can be bought in any Migros and Swiss Alnatura outlets!

The Netherlands: Help primary school children learn about healthy eating

The home is not the only place where children are learning about eating a healthy diet this summer and autumn! In collaboration with Hart voor Heerenveen, Jongeren op Gezond Gewicht (JOGG) director Tryntsje van der Wal is looking for companies that would like to help primary school children learn about healthy food and encourage healthy eating choices. As part of the campaign ‘Vegetables…put your teeth in them!’, van der Wal wants children to learn about healthy eating habits and healthy lifestyle choices outside the home, such as in the classroom or at a workshop or event. Participating companies can decide how often they would like to participate with a class of around 20 primary school students and a teacher, and activities could include a farm visit, an excursion to a restaurant to learn how to cook a healthy dish, a tour of the fresh produce section at the local supermarket, building vegetables gardens on-site at schools, or even having a nutritionist in the classroom for the day! The campaign will be running in schools in Heerenveen from the beginning of September and are schools can participate on a first-come-first served basis.

 

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