The Short Food Chain Association at ‘Green Week’ in Berlin

'Green Week' ('Grune Woche'), in Berlin, is an event dedicated to agri-food products

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 04.03.2025, 13:01

Authentic Romanian products from Alba, Bacău, Constanţa, Giurgiu, and Maramureş were presented at the stand of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) set up within the international exhibition ‘Green Week’ (‘Grune Woche’), in Germany, in Berlin, in the second half of January, by the Short Food Chain Association (SFCA). Marius Tudosiei, founder of the Short Food Chain Association, told us:

“I was at the stand of the Minister of Agriculture. There, the stand was already set up. Unfortunately, we entered this topic very, very late. It was unlikely that we could organize anything better than that, but we discovered a surprising openness in the team that was dealing with it from within the ministry. You know there’s this legend, that it’s hard to work with people from the state, but here they were very open. We practically invited ourselves, because we only had a few days left until the fair started, and some of the association members were there. I won’t name any brands, but you should know that we sent the best cold-pressed oils, some fish products, zacusca and canned fish, which were very, very well received. Some good things really happened there and I think we should pull together and make preparations for Berlin 2026.”

‘Green Week’ (‘Grune Woche’), in Berlin, is an event dedicated to agri-food products, annually bringing together over 60 countries and hundreds of thousands of visitors. Marius Tudosiei explained the concept of the short food chain to us:

“Years ago, the short food chain was considered the direct relationship between the producer and the consumer, unmediated, marked by a distance as short as possible between the two. Unfortunately, in 2025 we can no longer hope for all these details. However, in our vision there are a few parameters that, once changed, should be very well defined, namely that there should still be a relationship between the producer and the consumer, whether he is a natural person, so for home consumption, or whether we are talking about the hospitality industry, chef, restaurant, owners. I realized that the role of the Mittleman (intermediary) cannot be ignored. They are rather necessary. But our vision of this link in the distribution chain is that it should be a role that is as silent as possible, and in no case should it capture most of the deal that is proposed. What I mean by this is that the intervention of an intermediary, of whatever nature, should be as discreet as possible from a financial point of view, because, unfortunately, in current chains, the large chains, it is precisely the intermediaries who have the largest share of the value of the finished product, of what the consumer pays, and therefore, we are trying to bring the two tectonic plates closer together, namely producers and consumers, and they also have slightly different languages. Therefore, producers, most of the time, do not understand exactly what the needs are.”

Our interlocutor gave examples to illustrate the occasional lack of understanding of consumer needs, so that there is a lack of diversification of the products offered, two erroneous packaging versions: too small for the hospitality industry, or too large for household consumers.

We asked Marius Tudosiei what the average citizen should do.

“I think the first step they should take would be an extremely important one: to think about exactly what they put on the table and what they eat, to think about the source of the ingredients they buy for the refrigerator. In the meantime, I have also started an educational project that addresses schools and kindergartens, and I must admit that it is the hardest, to work with young age groups, because the period in which you can capture their attention is very short, but a fabulous thing happened: when I showed them a piece of celeriac, they passed it from hand to hand, smelled it, and touched it, a perfect celery from the big stores, obviously imported, and they found nothing interesting about it. Apart from the fact that it rolls, being perfectly round. I brought some celery from the garden, which still had its leaves, and when I twisted the leaves and the room was filled with the smell, I probably had the best moment of attention, because suddenly all the children were all eyes and ears to what was happening there, because the stimulus was so strong. There is a notable difference between what we can buy that is imported, and what we can buy from the local farmer market, which is why the home consumer should think very seriously about what they buy. Local products, possibly certified organic, are not always more expensive than those that come from imports. We have to think about packaging options, about the carbon footprint. There are a lot of things, and I think we should become a little more aware of what we eat. At the same time, they should think about the fact that nature has organized things in such a way that seasonality becomes important, and it becomes important even in our menus, and that we should not have a certain ingredient 365 days a year.”

Marius Tudosiei encouraged us to follow seasonal products and wished us “good food thoughts”!