Strauss Group’s foodtech incubator The Kitchen hosted the BCC’s international foodtech competition

Our foodtech incubator, The Kitchen Hub, along with Spanish investment fund Cardumen, Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, and Start-Up Nation Central, hosted an international foodtech competition in Tel Aviv as part of the Basque Culinary Center (BCC) global journey, “BCC on the Road.”

The event brought together over 100 representatives of foodtech companies, investors, culinary professionals, and chefs to discuss the integration of technology in the kitchen and showcase innovative Israeli startups. The keynote speaker was Furqan Meerza, formerly of the NOMA restaurant and currently serving as R&D for the BCC.

The competition featured five startups in the foodtech field, with O’taste emerging as the winner. O’taste will go on to represent the Israeli foodtech industry in the international finale in Spain in March.

The event focused on the integration of technology in the kitchen, and how it can be used to create new and innovative dishes in restaurants. BCC on the Road has been taking place over the past year, and includes competitions between foodtech startups in New York, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv, and a final event set to take place in Spain in March.

The judges for the competition were Chai Avital, head of the Innovation Authority’s incubator program, Dina Walker, director of development at the Basque Culinary Center, and Gonzalo Martinez, a partner in the Cardumen Investment Fund.

The five startups that participated in the competition were MEALA, from the Strauss Group’s The Kitchen foodtech incubator, which produces functional proteins that enable clean labels in plant-based meat substitutes; MUSH FOODS, also from the Strauss group’s foodtech incubator The Kitchen, which grows an alternative protein based on the roots of the mushroom that is used as an innovative raw material for the meat industry and restaurants; GAVAN, which develops protein-based ingredients to improve the sensory experience of plant-based food; More Foods, which is developing an alternative protein with a clean label that is used as a main dish and is based on pumpkin and sunflower seeds; and O’taste, which develops pure natural sucrose and salt, 10 times sweeter/saltier than regular sugar or salt.

Yonatan Berger, executive director of the Strauss Group’s foodtech incubator The Kitchen said “Today, the State of Israel is at the forefront of the international foodtech and culinary worlds, as evidenced by leading competitions such as that of the Basque Culinary Center hosted by us. In the coming year, we hope that the Israeli startups will reach scale-up and mass production, so that we can see their innovative products on the supermarket shelves and as raw materials in restaurants.”