Strength2Food’s Project Manager Dr Barbara Tocco was invited to speak at Food Matters Live 2019, the UK’s largest event showcasing the food and drink innovations in the retail sector, shaping the future of food, health and sustainable nutrition. This year event, held in ExCel London on 19-20 November 2019, attracted over 10,500 visitors and brought together a curated exhibition with hundreds of food innovators, start-ups, manufacturers and speakers from across the global food and drink industry.
Dr Barbara Tocco took part in the discussions over ‘Global food trends and ways to meet consumer demand for sustainable food’. Her talk on Exploring the psyche of the adventurous and open-minded consumer, attended by over 100 people, shed light on consumer perceptions and attitudes towards food quality and sustainable practices, drawing on research insights from STRENGTH2FOOD. The discussion also focused on strategies to promote consumer awareness and bring about behavioural change.
On the second day, she took part in the panel discussion on ‘Foods of the future: what will we be eating?’ and provided insights from a psychology and consumer culture perspective. Specifically, the session focused on novel and different types of food (e.g. edible insects and lab meat) and ways to make them more palatable and mainstream to the less-open minded consumers.
