Gladmat, or the "happy food" festival held annually in July, is four days of fun for foodies, usually drawing around 250,000 visitors to the Stavanger's harbor. Despite the pandemic, Gladmat has succeeded in adapting its program in 2020. A new activity was launched to ensure that local restaurants are part of the festival: the Gladmat Food trails, which took participants on a guided visit from restaurant to restaurant. Maren Skjelde, Gladmat General Manager, will return to a year of uncertainty and adaptation in running a food festival and explain lessons learned from the successful initiative.

Malmö, Sweden's third-largest city, is a bit of a rebel on the food scene. Here, vegan is the new black, and local food entrepreneurs are always pushing the sustainability envelope, which means that a meal eaten in Malmö is likely to be just as satisfying for the planet as for the diner. Malmö is also at the forefront of social gastronomy, using food to promote community integration and create jobs.

The food entrepreneurs in our food cities need to reinvent themselves as the industry is shifting. How can we, as cities, support them and help them sustain themselves? Proper training may be the trick! Felipe Garcia from VisitTucson presented a project proposal with Scott Hessell from the Center for Retailing of the University of Arizona, setting up interactive and peer-to-peer training modules for the Délice partners.