So we have just about recovered from a whirlwind trip to Bologna to visit the world's biggest ice cream trade show, SIGEP.
During a total of 48 hours in Italy we sampled 100s of ice creams, ingested enough caffeine to jump start a sloth, devoured the spaghetti (well, it is the home of bolognese) and sampled one or two glasses of wine...
SIGEP is huuuuuuuuge! In total it spans 460,000 metres of space and is filled with Italy's best flavour houses, pizza oven manufacturers and coffee roasters. From the moment we stepped through the door it was none stop and by the end of the day we were full of ice cream, knowledge and fresh new ideas for Caffe Cream!
We learned a lot about vegan ice creams and we will be looking to develop some new vegan recipes over the next month to launch in time for Easter. We've also developed an incredible frozen yoghurt recipe which we will be launching next week.
We were also lucky enough to get to explore Bologna. The city is a beautiful medieval maze of alleyways lined with delis, gelatarias and cafés. The art of the espresso there has been perfected. En route to SIGEP we stopped for an espresso and a cannoli (above) which we enjoyed in traditional Italian fashion, briefly whilst stood at the counter.
The food is excellent, the people are warm and welcoming and the cityscape is breathtaking. Oh, and the ice cream is pretty good too! If you ever get the chance to go to Bologna then I'd highly recommend it. And if you do, head to Piazza Maggiore, turn down Via Clavature and pop into the first bar on the left. Ask for Gabrielle and tell them we sent you, you'll be glad you did...
Keep you eyes peeled on our social media for more updates.
Ciao!
xx