A wheat and gluten-free food company has created a rather unusul spa in London. BFree is behind “The Sandwich Spa”, a three-day UK pop-up offering beauty treatments combined with health-friendly sandwiches.
BFree, which also sells products in Australia, announced in a press release that they were presenting the first anti-ageing sandwich. Later, in a tweet, they wrote that their sandwiches could help you de-bloat and even turn back the clock.
So what food was served at The Sandwich Spa?
Only open for three days, The Sandwich Spa appeared to be a marketing campaign designed to promote the range of BFree products. Visitors could book online to get a free treatment and the corresponding sandwich.
For example, the Roll Back the Clock sanga, deemed to be anti-ageing, was a sweet potato and spinach multigrain wrap which came with a vitamin C facial.
The BLT (Beautiful Long Tresses) was a tofu and walnut wrap. Delivered with a scalp massage, it was supposed to boost the look of your hair by restoring keratin levels.
The Mindfulness Bites, an open sandwich, sounded pretty delicious with its avocado, smoked salmon, beetroot and cashew. It promised to lift your mood with the help of “enhancing scents”.
BFree tells SBS Food the company wanted to create an experience "that showcased the wider wellness benefits of eating well and enjoying an array of healthy ingredients".
Just a bit of fun or a big gimmick?
The event was sold out, most probably helped by the fact that it was free. While some of the positive posts on Instagram seem to be sponsored, there were Twitter users who said they enjoyed the spa-sandwich experience.
However, BFree drew some flack from media and customers, who questioned the claims the company made about their super sandwiches.
“We are bombarded, day in and day out, with the message that young is in, and old is ugly; that your worth is less with every second that ticks by, and if you’re not doing something to stop the sands of time then you’re doing something wrong,” she writes.
A sandwich won’t make you look young, she added.
Journalist Alex Gazzola, who specialises in food intolerances and allergies, said he was disappointed with BFree: “The result is not only quite a few dispirited fans and consumers, but a stream of dodgy mis-information issued over several days, and still being shared, serving only to reinforce false beliefs about nutrition and health.”
Some customers have been voicing their discontent with the company online too.
BFree replied on Twitter, saying the campaign was just a bit of fun: “We've created the recipes using foods that existing studies show can have wellness and lifestyle benefits. We’re not making claims on our products... they won't solve a wellness issue single-handedly."
The company tells SBS Food they also contacted people who expressed concerns. "We’re an open, honest and transparent company, from our products, right through to the way that we work with our customers whose opinions are very valuable to us."
A BFree spokesperson says the company worked with a nutritionist to select ingredients that were "already known and reported to have properties that help towards certain wellness issues and concerns, but of course we wouldn’t only suggest eating a sandwich to achieve this. Other lifestyle factors will always come into play - we wanted to demonstrate to people that eating well can play such a huge role in our lives and that food can really help, alongside other factors such as exercise and lifestyle."
Food for thought
Do you really need a detox?
