The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK and the Culinary Team of Finland have joined forces for the Grüne Woche or International Green Week trade fair held in Germany 18-21 January 2019. The fair has just a single partner country each year, and next year it is Finland. The Grüne Woche fair is the world’s largest food sector consumer fair event. Finland is introduced at the fair in its own hall under the theme ‘Grüße aus der Wildnis – Greetings from the Wild’. The fair concept ‘Aus der Wildnis’ and the accompanying partner country theme were designed by Hasan & Partners.
The purpose of the collaboration is to send a spectacular message of Finnish food know-how, such as arctic food production, food produced responsibly from the plentiful provisions of our clean nature, to market Finland as an attractive destination for culinary tourism, and to support the exhibitor businesses by building up a shared Finland food brand.
“We are extremely pleased with the cooperation, as the Team is tasked with promoting Finland’s image, together with awareness of our raw ingredients in international competition arenas. The collaboration for the fair serves this brilliantly,” says Tapio Laine, Manager of the Culinary Team of Finland.
“We’d like to extend our congratulations to the Team for its excellent work and achievements in promoting Finnish culinary culture. The collaboration is important to us, as the visibility of our food sector and food exports contribute to the viable growth of our agriculture. The sustainable production methods and arctic conditions of Finland may be highlighted as strengths. This gives us a unique competitive edge, which the Culinary Team of Finland helps to promote at the fair in an interesting way, combining food and drink with tourism,” comments Juha Marttila, President of MTK.
Visitors to the fair can get to know Finnish flavours prepared by the professionals of the Culinary Team of Finland throughout the exhibition. As well as the visitors, the Team is responsible for the official hospitality of Green Week and the opening buffet for 3,500 people. Pekka Kääriäinen, restaurateur of Bryggeri Helsinki in Berlin, is responsible for the food and drink provision in the fair restaurant, in partnership with the Culinary Team of Finland.
Pure Finnish arctic food from the unpolluted natural environment, sustainable Finnish forestry, wood products from the green economy, and Finland as a relaxing country for experience- and nature tourism gain special visibility at the 2019 fair. The regions are given prominence in the Finnish hall. Every year, the fair is visited by more than 400,000 consumers and thousands of media people. The fair is also an important venue for networking and gathering together for agriculture sector policymakers and influencers around the world.
The principal organiser of the Finnish hall is MTK. The partner country section and the associated events programme and communications are implemented in cooperation with SLC, the central union of Swedish-speaking agricultural producers in Finland, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Business Finland, and Finland’s diplomatic mission in Germany.
More than 80 Finnish companies are taking part in the fair. The companies and main partners will be confirmed and published in more detail during September. The exhibition event helps create contacts not only with consumers, but also the buyers of German retail chains and restaurant wholesalers.
More information about the food fair
Additional information
Tapio Laine, Manager of the Culinary Team of Finland
Telephone: +358 (0) 40 025 3813, tapio.laine@ctof.fi