Nutrition and Hydration week is a chance to rethink our relationship to food

Nutrition and Hydration week, taking place this year from the 14th until the 20th June, was set up to highlight and educate people on the value of healthy approaches to food and drink, and its impact on our health and general wellbeing.

Intended to help people in the NHS and general social care industries to maintain a nutritious diet, organisations from around the world and from all areas of health and care rally to join in on the fun.

Beginning in 2012, the team behind Nutrition and Hydration week are the guardians of championing healthy nutrition and hydration practices “in all settings”. Whether in school cafeterias, hospitals, or prisons, Nutrition and Hydration week helps “dietitians, caterers, nurses and others working within health and social care” have the awareness and resources to work within their industries.

Nutrition and Hydration week is also a great initiative for companies or organisations to implement among their teams and staff, to raise awareness around health and wellbeing in a manageable, easily understandable way through the Nutrition and Hydration week handbook.

In line with N&H week's values, Hawkker has assembled a short list of food and drink products from independent vendors that are both delicious and nutritionally fulfilling, so that you too can give this week a go.

Bold Bean Co

Bold Bean Co wants you to eat beans, and they want you to eat them properly. Packed with fibre and vitamins, beans are fantastic additions to your meals and help to keep you full for longer while delivering slow-release energy. Grown in Spain, or “the best bean-growing land on planet earth”, there is no ecological impact from growing or harvesting this product. In fact, bean farming replenishes the soil it's grown in with nitrates. Bold Bean Co ensures they deliver the best possible version of their product by using jars to package them, keeping all the flavour and nutritional values in the beans – which otherwise gets mostly lost in tinned cans.

Check out their website for tasty recipe ideas, tips, and information about how great beans are.

Courtesy of Bold Bean Co

Kim & Chi

Kim and Chi were meant to become kimchi makers. After years perfecting their kimchi in Seoul with Kim’s mother, “an expert in making traditional kimchi”, Kim and Chi came back to London to refine the taste, making just under a hundred different batches until they found the magical formula.

With Chinese cabbage as the primary ingredient, it is fascinating that this vegetable alone contains an abundance of “vitamins A and C, at least 10 different minerals, and over 34 amino acids”. If you’re in need of inspiration on how to get creative with kimchi, check out their fabulous website for some wonderful ideas – as well as the change to slip into aesthetic heaven.

Courtesy of Kim & Chi

Daily Dose

Born out of a desire to tackle the lack of natural, nutritional juices, Daily Dose offers a fantastically tasty range of juices that also tackle the huge problem of food-waste. With many supermarkets being operated along strict guidelines as to the shapes of fruit and vegetables they sell, Daily Dose makes sure to use only wonky, surplus produce to create their products. In addition to this, all the produce is nationally sourced as often as possible, with “Beetroots from Bedfordshire, Carrots from Peterborough, Apples from Surrey and Greens from Lancashire”.

Check out Daily Dose’s website for some serious inspiration on how to simultaneously hydrate and fill up on nutrients. By only using the best products, working with British farmers, and making sure to save tonnes of unconventional-looking but delicious produce, Daily Dose is a truly great option for people seeking a way to improve how they eat and drink. And don’t be scared to use their combinations as inspiration to make your own concoctions at home, should you be seeking a little adventure.

Courtesy of Daily Dose

Biomel

Passionate about gut health, Biomel is a dairy-free, probiotic drink that is jam-packed with “billions of live active cultures, Vitamins B6, D and Calcium”. Supporting the normal functions of the digestive and immune systems, Biomel is the perfect addition to any diet. Having worked very hard on making sure their product tastes great, with wonderful, classic flavours such as Belgian Dark Chocolate, Coconut, Vanilla, and even Almond Salted Caramel, they are easy to incorporate into a normal day of eating and drinking. Whether you drink them on their own fresh out of the fridge or incorporate them into smoothies, acai bowls, or cereal, they are a fantastic source of vital vitamins and minerals.