WHY?

Sustainable Meal was originally developed for passion of fresh good food. Our aim to is to increase the usage of various locally grown products, that are climate friendly and sustainable. We love to talk about seasonal food and are always trying to help small innovative producers to demonstrate their competence.

How can restaurants and consumers ensure that they get to choose from the most sustainable choices? By utilizing Sustainable Meal. Sustainable Meal is dedicated to green values with positive angle. SM at its best equals to uber fresh, highly nutritional and funky food. Let’s do this all together, Planet Earth really deserves it!

We have had a lot of help from our community, friends and relatives. A huge thank you goes to Flow festival (www.flowfestival.com) for giving us a change to pilot our project already in 2014 and continuing with us ever since. Back in those days I myself and co-founder Elina Levula were asked to give an assignment for an Aalto university course called Sustainable Product and Service Design. In our guidance the brilliant Aalto students (Pia Sissala, Saara Jolkkonen, Tsui-Fan Tseng, Mirka Kolehmainen and Elina Voipio) helped us in designing and curating the project. A special thank you goes to Mr. Markku Törhönen for investing loads of your personal time in developing the financial side of SM during the Demos Helsinki -project. Sami Tallberg, Mika Yliluoma, Antti Tuomola, Mikko Lehmuskallio, -I’m blessed with having such value driven food experts to turn to for help!

Let’s leave the planet livable for our children. We have already used our share.

Flow 2023

-Last year in Suvilahti

After last years' success expectations are now through the roof. Who is serving what at Flow? Which favorite restaurants are back, and who are the newcomers this year? Oh yeah, I have to say they have a pretty nifty music line-up too. As a tradition, Sustainable Meal organized a sustainability coaching session in May for all the restaurants serving food at Flow Festival 2023. In this session we talked about sustainability in a larger scope, narrowing down to best festival practices and explaining what is Sustainable Meal to its very details. We talked about sustainable event food and thought of some new ways to give the customer the best possible culinary experience. In other words, we already have some idea what you guys will be enjoying at Flow Festival in August. Expect the best. And for all you vendors taking part in the Sustainable Meal competition: this year's standards are higher than ever!

Flow 2022

Bye Bye Corona, please don't come back!

After a few corona years we are back in action. The wait did pay off. 2022 Flow Festival was lot's of sunshine, a million smiles and good vibes all around, and of course an excellent culinary experience. The festival was sold out, but everything seemed non-chaotic. There were no massive ques, there was no panic and most of all everyone seemed happy. The knowledge of sustainable event food has increased every year. This year it was the first FLOW with no beef, pork or poultry. We were also very pleased to notice that the vendors had implemented seasonal raw ingredients to all dishes, not just the most sustainable (and best) ones. I had a personal goal to try all the Sustainable Meal -dishes, and I made it happen during the weekend. I needed help, so thank you friends and family, for sharing my food. (I loved every bite, cheers!)

We had a judges panel to help us determine the best and most sustainable food on this years festival. Emma Kari, Meri-Tuuli Väntsi and Janne Keskevaari thank you for your comments, laughs and expertise in choosing the best portion. The winner of the Sustainable Meal competition was Loi Loi, with their awesome Tofu Okonomiyaki. Congratulations!

-Jussi, Sustainable Meal

Flow 2019

SM 2019 –Bigger? Better? Greener!

That’s the first thing I noticed when arriving in Flow Festival 2019. The premises were a bit different (aren’t they every year?). Everything looked more fresh and good, the main stage was greater than ever!

The variation of delicious FOODS was the best I have ever experienced in any festival. Come to think of it, have I ever had a more interesting opportunities to eat on a weekend?

The presence of Sustainable Flow was vivid everyone in the festival venue. Recycling centers @ Flow –best communication I have seen in any event regarding waste. Anyway, Flow 2019 described in one word. Success. Sustainable Meal is a proud strong partner to Flow Festival. We had a fantastic food panel this year. Thank you ever so much Maria Veitola, XXX, and XXX for taking your time to try the different sustainable meals served at the festival. You guys are pro!

So we had two categories in our SM competition. First one was the professionals; according to initial sustainability points that the meals had received, our food panel tried the best 5 meals and pronounced the winner, Ravintola Kuurna: The Best Potatoes in Town. The festival audience could vote for their favourite meal in Instagram. Winner portion by a massive margin, Bun2Bun Burgers:: Double Cheese. Congrats not to just the winners but to everyone who took part!