A great edition of the 2015 International exhibition of organic and natural products in Bologna.
This is the forth time I visit the Sana exhibition in Bologna and probably it was the best so far. This year the exhibition was supported and linked to the major event of the year in Italy: Expo 2015, with a project of internationalization of Sana. All the information about the exhibitors and the organization are on the official website http://www.sana.it/en/home-page/1229.html.
This year there were 6 Halls set up with food, natural and well being products, mostly this year edition was about food, but even more it was about vegan, gluten free and healthy food. The Italian Supermarket chain NaturaSì occupied most of the space of the bigger hall (the 33) with an open space supermarket where the consumers could finally meet in person all those producers they only know for their products. It was really fun, intelligent and useful to meet and talk with the faces behind the products, asking questions and tasting all those products seen at the supermarket and wondered about the taste; organic products are quite expensive and many times I hesitated buying one because I was unsure about the taste and the value of it. Yesterday I had the chance to try and ask and it was a really great experience, I really liked the idea of NaturaSì and I think it was a very smart marketing strategy. One of the many stand I stopped by, was Natural Food, an Italian brand which produces seitan, vegan burger mixes, gomasio and so on. The staff had been extremely patient when asked infinite times how to prepare a great seitan with their mix and how to flavor it; the tasting plates were always abundant and warm to invite more people to try something "cruelty free" maybe for the first time, for sure a winning experience.
NaturaSì was also promoting a project called "an alliance for the future of life", with their stand donating a lot of flower seeds to support the future of bees and biodiversity, I really hope I will be able to grow some and help the bees come back to our territories.
Thanks to Sana, finally I had the chance to buy Flaska http://www.flaska.co.uk, the reusable glass water bottle programmed to change the water's vibrational structure. I will speak extensively about it in an apposite post. At the exhibition the Flaska team was great at explaining all the product characteristics and why is important to the Company that the product is bought in person, rather than online. This new way to drink water, with the glass programmed to improve and empower the water structure is good for health, the environment and the education on the right consume of water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf3MdY8vI-I&feature=youtu.be this YouTube video by Flaska is a wonderful first presentation inspiring people about the properties and the great value of water and the possibility to re-program and re-use the bottle during the years.
Vegan, vegan everywhere.
2015 was a really great chance to evangelize the vegan cause to the public. Hall 34 was mostly dedicated to vegan products and lifestyle with useful conferences and cooking exhibitions.
The Vegan Fest organised by VeganOk Network and Asso Vegan (http://www.veganok.com/-http://www.assovegan.it/) was a real exhibition inside the exhibition. The two bodies, with an informative stand, distributed a lot of flayers about the reasons behind the vegan choices and some vegetable drinks to try and to attract more people to talk and understand. I had the chance to listen for a while to 2 conferences about the vegan diet with the Holistic MD Cristina Salvadori and the paralympic athlete Sofia Righetti, but the programme was very intense, so a great chance for the non-vegan visitor (and sometimes for the vegan too) to analyze deeply the importance of a vegan diet for the planet, the animals and the human health.
The more interesting part of this event was for sure the tasting and there had been many chances to try vegan food thanks to the many cooking show organized during the Vegan Fest. I could assist to the Free Aperitivo organized by Raw Fun, raw vegan food http://www.rawfun.it/Home.html. The demonstration that healthy vegan food, moreover raw, can also be tasty and fun was indispensable to put in contact food lovers and vegan raw food maybe for the first time. The Company Raw Food represent an amazing innovation in Italy. Classy raw food served as street food to reach more public and enlarge a new "food" vision with a franchising option which could really change a lot of opinion on healthy and tasty nowadays. I personally tasted their raw orange, ginger and paprika fresh juice and raw crouton with raw vegan cheese and 'Black Baccara' roses.
Between one stand and the other I allowed myself a vegan cappuccino made with the new Granarolo soy milk, really good and creamy. At the Vegan Fest I also meet the Lara Hemp Company, (http://www.larahemp.com/about.html) one of first Companies in Italy which decided to distribute and sell hemp products, with all the obstacles they encountered due to the many prejudices related to hemp. It was very instructive speaking with the MD Lara Di Nunzio, Ceo of Lara Hemp, she studied a lot the properties and the history of hemp to overcome all the critics she could have received about her choice. Thanks to her expertise she organizes meetings and conferences to help her clients to explain hemp to their final consumers.
The Vegan Fest overall had been a well organized event and it had been an enjoyable occasion to present the vegan world to the public.
Back downstairs at Hall 32, it was a really nice surprise meeting a young Italian producing Company called Sun Soy Food from Bologna. The Company is renovating his brand with a young staff who decided to bet on the production of vegan organic product realized using soy and wheat, fighting everyday with the tenacious competition of foreign products. They decided not to sell the products during the exhibition, but only to organize a tasting, I hope to find them elsewhere to try deeply the taste and review them.
Everybody knows by now how much I love Scotland. At Hall 31 I meet the Scottish Company http://www.buteisland.com/ Bute Island Foods, producer of the famous Sheese. They have all sorts of vegan cheeses and Iove the strong taste of their products, of course the fact they served the tasting on original Scottish shortbread almost made me faint :)
Anyway I was really happy I had the chance to exchange some information with them and see how passionate they are about their work.
At the same stand, held by the importing and distributing Company Sapore di Sole http://www.effegifood.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&itemid=72 I also meet my vegan organic super Shampoo producing Company Urtekram, http://www.urtekram.com/ it was so nice talking to them and finally find out they have found a way to import their great products in Italy.
Last but not least, I have bought the first issue of a brand new Italian Vegan Magazine: Vegan Italy. http://www.veganitaly.it/ I look forward to reading it and maybe I may think to send them my Cv....
I really enjoyed this last edition of Sana 2015, I learnt a lot, I meet a lot of people, I ate a lot and now I have a lot to think about. See you in 2016 Sana!
