- The South-West Finland counts as a neighbouring and local area for the following products: vegetables, eggs, meat and grain products. Reindeer, wheel, fish and dairy products can be produced in the entire country.
- The served products are fresh (bread baked max. 6 hours earlier, potatoes peeled in the last 24h)
- The delivery time and distance of the products are short
- The products are environmentally sustainable (wrapping, transportation and delivery)
- Avoiding singly wrapped products, favouring recyclable packages or materials and short delivery distances.
- No food additives in the products
- Seasonable vegetables in Finland in winter were: beetroot, swede, carrots and other root vegetables, red and white cabbage, onion, potato, pickled cucumber etc., berry juice, frozen berries and citrus fruits.
Avoiding left-overs was one of the main concerns of the conference. First of all, from the organizer point of view, was to optimize the number of eaters per meal. This requested more planning but paid off in clear savings from the project budget. The organizer had also a call up list of persons to join in for a dinner if some participants did not turn out to the place. The list consisted of persons who had helped during the planning process of the conference. Secondly, those left-overs, such as the morning sandwiches, that could be quickly and easily transported were delivered free of charge to the students in the nearby campus. Thirdly, the catering companies put extra effort in planning the menus, so that the different ingredients could be used efficiently.
