My Trip to Liverpool 4th Nov 2017

'The Allergy & Free From Show: North' Exhibition Centre, Liverpool.

• Lots of different companies/brands and products - even Pizza Express was there giving out gluten free bases and sauces.
• It's not just a free from exhibition but also a health and wellness as it didn't just have food but various different activities, also things to entertain children.
• There was a mixture of well known brands from PURE spreads, BFree and Gosh!
• There was also more unknown ones which were usually obvious due to the size of the stall they were in - for example Doves Farm, Schlar and Genius had the largest lots - even Doves Farm had a section of live baking.
• There was a variety of foods on offer - it proves that gluten isn't all about bread. There was Italian / Indian / spices / sauces amongst many others.
• Demographic: Mixed, usually families with parents 30+ with young to teenage children. There was also a lot of older people too which I found surprising.
• Much of the stalls were giving out samples and trying to showcase their products and raise awareness of their brand. 
• There was also a lot of other organisations on hand to chat such as Coeliac UK, Greenpeace and Dogs Trust.
• The smaller stalls offered niche products such as beer, wine, protein powder or even kitchen equipment.
• Not only were much of the products gluten-free but they were also nut and dairy free, accompanied with a lot of vegan or vegetarian food.
• There was a lot of people buying products, particularly from the bigger retailers. I wondered if many of the people were just curious but it turns out that through overhearing conversations there were a large majority of them having an intolerance and their family would go along with them.
• There was a learning centre that informed people of various different intolerances alongside the interactive cooking section which had it's own timetable, offering tips and tricks for baking.
• There was a lot of choice and showed that these people don't have to be restricted - bringing together of people who feel out of the loop.
• There was also stalls selling Himalayan salt lamps and hoovers!
• It appears that people are more accepting of the lifestyle because they're more aware of a new growth of dietary requirements.
• It seemed to me that it was more of a celebration - everyone was positive and had a united atmosphere.
• People have showcased innovative products such as dairy free ice-creams and ice cream wafers.
• The things are on offer either online or already in supermarkets.
• EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE! But people don't seem to mind, they see they're buying quality

I spoke to Michelle Berriedale-Johnson, director of the FreeFrom Food Awards and Editor of foodsmatter.com where she gave me an insight into the free from market from a different perspective.

• There's a range of intolerances and these come with different needs
• Asking about her take on 'is it a fad' she believes that people thought it so from large corporations as they didn't seem to accommodate for others needs however this perception changed when researchers started to look into it.
• She says how it is much more than just food but rather a health concept and a lifestyle choice and she has seen an increase in this in the past 5 years (the free from awards started small and the past few years has exploded to 300 different dietitians and people alike).
• Due to the success of FreeFrom awards they have recently also included places to go out and eat which they found important as many people didn't go out and eat due to not trusting what was on offer.
• I asked how this growth came about and she said that the change of regulations in December 2014 brought about change in the food industry as companies now had to clearly write on the packets of food what was in it - this lead to them being aware of different allergies that were previously not considered and therefore had to inform.
• This lead to a panic in the food industry.. but after this they realised that maybe there may be a market for this and turned something they perceived to be bad business into a money making method and therefore decided to expand their ranges in response to their customers needs.
• Speaking about celebrity influences Michelle said that people like Gweynth Paltrow has helped raise awareness for the cause and through discussing believes that this is more positive than negative, although she understands that it is not all positive.
• Asking her about when or why she started on this free from track she said it was 30 years ago due to her son at the time being dairy intolerant. In turn, she decided to create a dairy free ice-cream (something that never existed back then) from tofu and she laughed when trying to sell it people mistook her for saying 'toffee' because tofu was not well known.
• From then on she decided to create a newsletter and blog foodsmatter.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   

I also spoke to the owner of Middleton Foods, who described his efforts to inform people in his company and previously to branch out to use more gluten free products but was met with resistance.

• He started with fish and chip batter - a popular choice - by creating a gluten free batter (one of their stalls was at the exhibition actually selling these fish and chips with a massive queue waiting!)
• He tells me how a lot of people didn't understand about it back then.
• He says that online was a great way for them to advertise, as when they launched their range of frozen doughnuts for Tesco it was met with a lot of positive responses on Facebook, however he says there were also some 'naive individuals' who didn't understand and therefore undermined it. He says that the market, for him, has massively increased in the past 18 months.