The conference, held as part of IPC Advertising’s Inspired Conversations positioning, saw attendees from media agencies and clients gather at the Blue Fin Building to hear food experts talk about the latest trends in food, cooking and eating.
The event was hosted by Diane Kenwood, editor of Woman’s Weekly and featured a panel of IPC’s top food experts. Also speaking were: food writer and columnist Giles Coren; food writer and broadcaster Tom Parker Bowles; John Vincent, the founder of Leon; David Moore, Michelin starred restaurateur; and Sam Bompas, part of experimental chef duo Bompas & Parr, the Jellymongers.
Charlie Meredith, managing director, IPC Advertising says: “Consumers have an insatiable appetite for food content, with the main focus being on value, provenance, ethical sourcing and creativity. Even if they don’t have a lot of money to spend on food, they want to eat well and feed their families well and it’s that desire for gourmet quality food every day that has inspired the name of the conference.
“Six out of ten shoppers who post comments about food or dining on the internet read IPC brands; 45,000 recipes are printed from our websites each month, thousands more view recipes on tablet while they cook and millions draw inspiration from our magazines. With such a wealth of food expertise amongst IPC’s brands, we thought it was high time we shared our knowledge with our advertising partners by hosting our first food conference.”
At the conference:
* John Vincent, entrepreneur and founder of LEON, inspired the audience with his campaign to get Home Economics back on the curriculum in schools and why it’s important for future generations to know about nutrition and how to create basic healthy meals. He also talked about how school meals need to rebrand themselves so that their reputation lives up to the reality.
* Sam Bompas, half of the inspirational team behind Jellymongers, wowed attendees with an animated session about creativity and innovation in food, food as theatre and the meaning of taste. The audience were also able to sample some of their inspirational jelly creations.
* A panel of IPC’s food editors; Jennifer Bedloe, food editor, Essentials; Sue McMahon, cookery editor, Woman’s Weekly and Jane Curran, food editor, Woman&Home; answered questions from the floor about seasonality, world food and how they invoke taste through the pages of their magazines.
* David Moore, the restaurateur, shared his 10 commandments of hospitality, talked about the importance of service and how new food trends from the restaurant world are affecting consumer behaviours.
* The afternoon was rounded off with a rambunctious conversation with food writers and broadcasters Giles Coren and Tom Parker Bowles. Mediated by IPC’s director of special projects, Steve Sutherland, the session covered everything from super-cover restaurants, whether supermarkets should promote healthy food and the importance of seasonality, to taste vs. nutrition and vegetarians.
At the event, IPC also announced the launch of a competition – IPC Mediachef - to find the media industry’s best chef. More information will be available in early 2014.
