Following a hugely successful event last year, Produced in Kent will once again be hosting its Future Food Forum at the University of Kent in Canterbury on 3 May 2024.
This annual event brings together independent food and drink businesses, sector specialists, industry and local government to discuss how we can create a healthier, sustainable and enriching food system in Kent and beyond.
The event, titled ‘What does the consumer want?’ will welcome academics and experts including keynote speakers Kimberley Wilson, chartered psychologist, nutritionist and best-selling author of Unprocessed: How the Food We Eat is Fuelling our Mental Health Crisis; and Sheila Dillon; British food journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme.
Sheila said: “I think we have to ask ourselves some difficult questions about the way the food industry has put ‘consumer choice’ so high on its agenda and what that ‘choice’ has created.
“A lot of people would say that hyper-choice has given us a junk food culture that’s sickening and killing us. But according to the government and spokesmen for different parts of the food industry, caring about that has no resonance with ‘ordinary people’ who don’t want ’nannying’.”
Susie Warran-Smith, CEO of Produced in Kent, added: “We have reached a critical crossroads in the food sector; mass production has led us to a diet of difficult-to-identify, ultra-processed foods that are addictive and damaging to our health.
“Cheap food like this comes with an enormous cost to the NHS and to our personal health at a time when the cost of living still dictates who can and cannot access a healthy diet.
“On a positive note, the local independent food and drink sector holds the key to a better future for food in this country as consumers seek transparency and demand better quality food. The Future Food Forum will give us the space to have these important conversations.”
