Barcelona Seafood Show 2022

So, after 28 years, the largest seafood show has moved from Brussels to Barcelona! 

 

After a rather a long delay going through security at Manchester airport, not ideal at 3am! We made it to the show just as the doors opened. 

 

How exciting! After the world has been closed for so long, we can’t wait to get inside, catch up with our friends and see what new is going on in the fishy world. 

 

The show is massive! There are around 2000 stands spread out over 4 halls across 2 floors with nearly 30,000 attendees from 155 countries. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, it doesn’t exist yet! 

 

Two minutes in and I stumbled across the most beautiful stand that I’ve ever seen…. Caviar. This was literally set out like a bond street jewellery store with all the treasures tempting you to buy them. 

Further down the hall I found a king crab stand. This is literally one of my favourite things to eat! They have white meat and various legs, tinned or potted and even gift boxed. How amazing would these be for the website! Imagine sprinkling into a salad and having a glass of something delicious to go with it. 

 

I had better move on, I’m only here one day… 

 

I meet up with Hannah who is my wingman from the factory. We planned to meet up and have a snoop around to see what new products were out there. We even managed to find some interesting, more eco-friendly packaging alternatives. 

 

As you all know, I love all things salmon. I’ve traded salmon for many years, and I was blown away to see all the developing farms and brands out there. There clearly has been an awful lot of investment to increase the quality and sustainability of farmed salmon round the world. I was also surprised to see how many emerging land-based farms there are. The environmental credentials are exciting! Let’s see how these progress. 

Ok it’s pushing 2pm now, I should drop in and see my old friends from Ocean Quality (now Sjor). They were all on the stand; Jens, Truls, Joannes, Ronny to name a few. I can’t express how nice it was to see these guys after so long...top people. It was great to hear what had been going on, what was new and had a good laugh about old times. So off I went with one of Trul’s IPAs in hand heading to Eimskip happy hour. 

 

So Eimskip happy hour is legendary. 4pm at their stand they have a free-flowing bar which the entire show seems to flock there to catch up. I found my two favourite people in seafood and my first ever fish bosses from Faroe Seafood, Torkil and Birgir (pictured). Then another couple of Grimsby’s finest joined us, Simon from Made Great in Grimsby, and Julie Waites. 

Then off we go for some well-earned dinner and a drink or two…or three with my fishy friends. 

 

I’ve had some fantastic trips to the seafood show in Brussels but this time it was more special, not just because it had moved to Barcelona but this time, I was representing my very own little company! 

 

I’ve gone home with my head full of new product ideas and looking forward to sharing them with you soon! 

 

Bye for now 

 

Amy