On Wednesday 22/10 I participated as a small-scale producer of Upplandskubb, and as a representative of the ' Academy of Swedish products with protected designations ' at the Taste & Inspiration Fair arranged by Martin & Servera.
From the Academy , Tomas Erlandsson from Nordisk Råvara and Kerstin Johanson from Almnäs bruk were also present at the stand. Together we welcomed a large part of the 1800 people who visited the fair.
We mainly worked on increasing awareness of protected designations in general and Swedish products with protected designations in particular.
In Sweden, there are currently 24 products with protected designations. It looks like Sweden will soon receive further additions as several applications are pending processing.
In comparison, Italy today has 918 protected products and France has 798 protected products. It's everything from cheeses, sausages, hams, cereals, wines, etc. In other words, we in Sweden are where Italy, France and Spain were a long time ago. Imagine what we have to look forward to! Products with protected designations are part of these countries' tradition, pride and not least their tourism industry.
Our Swedish products, just like the bubbles from Champagne, the butter from Brittany or the lemons from the Costa d'Amalfi, guarantee a place-bound small-scale with high authenticity and unique stories. And stories or storytelling is exactly what our table was set with. Because our products are not only of extremely high quality but also bursting with stories, it's not for nothing that we have the EU's strongest food protection through the protected designations.
For example, the one about Gotland lentils, a cultivated crop that had been grown on Gotland for hundreds of years but was slowly falling into oblivion. Until some enthusiasts began hand-sowing some preserved specimens of Gotland lentils, which has now resulted in Gotland lentils being grown again on the island.
…Or the one about Upplandskubb, who and why in the 1860s bread began to be cooked in coffee cans and milk jugs in a water bath in northern Uppland? We don't know, but weaving the story together with the introduction of wood stoves in Swedish households gives us a story I could talk about for hours.
..Or the one about Skedvi Bröd, where artisanal production of crispbread was discontinued in favor of the efficiency measures of large-scale industrialization. But where the villagers of Stora Skedvi Crowdfunded the reconstruction of the demolished wood-fired ovens, well, the rest is history as they say. A story that can also be told for a long time. And of course, crispbread is baked with pride today.
Through the Academy , we can help each other increase awareness of our Swedish premium products. Now we are quite few in 🇸🇪, but that was also the case for 🇮🇹 and 🇫🇷 once upon a time. 🇪🇺
On Wednesday, November 29th, we will once again set this fantastic table when the Taste & Inspiration Fair opens its doors in Umeå.
Please come by and we can share a story.
The importance of small-scale networking and a really good story!
