Taste the Future: Big Disruption, Bold Innovators, Real Optimism
Emma Victor-Smith, Partnerships & Advocacy Director, 28/11/2026
This week, we had the privilege of attending the Future of Food Competition finals at the Royal Geographical Society, and it’s no exaggeration to say it was one of the most energising rooms we’ve been in for a long time.
With the world watching how food will evolve, sixteen pioneering innovators showcased what could be next for how we grow, make and eat food. Even better, you could taste most of it and speak directly to the people behind the brands.
The mood? Hopeful, competitive and genuinely optimistic. The food? Outstanding. The Future Food Movement prize winner? Fable - whose shiitake mushroom meat alternative was hands down one of the most delicious, texturally satisfying product we’ve tried in this space. Still thinking about it.
Congratulations to the full finalist cohort. Each one has the potential to solve a real-world food system challenge, and many are already doing so.
The Winners
Gold Winner: No More Lids Limited – One-piece, plastic-free hot drinks cup
Silver Winner: Wildfarmed – Regenerative grain systems and consumer brand
Bronze Winner: KLURA Labs – Materials tech tackling food waste, supply chains and food security
Popular Vote Winner: field doctor – Frozen ready meals designed by dietitians and chefs
Future Food Movement Prize: Fable Food Co – Delicious mushroom-based meat alternative
The 16 finalists
No More Lids Limited – One-piece, plastic-free hot drinks cup
Wildfarmed – Regenerative grain systems and consumer brand
KLURA Labs – Materials tech tackling food waste, supply chains and food security
Symplicity Foods – Zero-waste, all-natural fermented plant-based foods
Better Nature – Tempeh-based products, high in protein and gut-friendly
Grub Club – Insect-based (black soldier fly) pet food
Change-Box – Tech-enabled, dignity-first solution to food poverty
Farm Urban – Behaviour-shifting, modular vertical farms for leafy greens
Hoxton Farms – Cultivated pork fat for alt-protein products
Farm Box – Tools for small-scale, local food resilience
Bold Bean Co – Premium beans made irresistible and mainstream
Fable Food Co – Shiitake mushroom meat alternative (Future Food Movement Prize Winner)
Kyomei – Leaf-based biotech creating egg and whey alternatives
Auralytica – Real-time spoilage and contamination detection tech
Freddie’s Farm – Local, real fruit snacks for kids
field doctor. – Frozen ready meals that are dietitian-designed and chef-prepared.
Key takeouts for Future Food Movement members:
We left feeling inspired and hopeful, and with a deeper sense of urgency. If we want to shift how the world eats, we need to keep backing the innovators with solutions and helping create the conditions where they can thrive.
A major UK retailer CEO said the next 10 years will bring more disruption than we’ve seen since the war. The rise of GLP-1 drugs will change what people buy in convenience stores, forcing retailers to reimagine what those spaces are for.
Innovators in the room were challenged to see themselves as the Big Food of the future. Their businesses are designed to solve problems that legacy models struggle with.
Andy Cato gave a powerful talk on farming, soil degradation and our missed scientific opportunities. His message: We now have the science, tech and knowledge to reimagine agriculture. So we should. What we measure, we can value – data!
Henry Dimbleby reminded the room that change only sticks if food is delicious and if we hyper focus on the details, whilst not waiting to be perfect.
The message was clear: the future is already being written. And it’s being written by people like this - founders, scientists, farmers, researchers and innovators building the next chapter of food.
A huge thank you to Barney Mauleverer and the Future of Food Competition team for pulling off such an inspiring event.
We’ll be watching these finalists closely and continuing to back the ones pushing hardest to align health, climate, innovation and commercial reality.
And Finally: A Note on Urgency
This event happened the same week as the national climate emergency briefing. While that was rightly focused on the science and the need for accelerated action, the Future of Food Competition was focused on what comes next. Practical, tangible, scalable change - built by people taking real risks to do things differently.
For our Future Food Movement community, the message is clear: the next decade will be shaped by those who act fast, lead boldly and make the future real. We’re building capability in leaders across food to do just that. Let’s keep turning ambition into action.