Campaign featured in-store tastings in Tesco and Morrisons and advertising at Waterloo tube station
Costa Rica has rounded off the UK stage of its latest European campaign to promote its pineapple and cassava with a culinary demonstration for food media professionals led by chef Nuria Azofeifa, who presented recipes that showcase the versatility of these products in contemporary cuisine.
The event was part of a series of tastings and marketing activities in the UK, which form part of a larger European project promoted by the Essential Costa Rica country brand.
The activities carried out in the UK are part of the international campaign ‘Producers of Well-being,’ an initiative of Essential Costa Rica to highlight the quality, origin, and sustainable values of Costa Rican exports. The strategy covered the UK, Germany, and Spain, as well as Canada, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.
Highlighting the scope of the campaign, Laura López, general manager of the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer) and president of the Inter-institutional Committee of the Country Brand, said: “With ‘Producers of Well-being’, we seek to offer European consumers an authentic window into Costa Rica: products grown with respect for nature, sustainable practices and a production model that focuses on quality and people’s wellbeing.
“In the UK, we closed a very successful cycle that reinforced the value of our pineapple and cassava, while bringing the history and essence of our country closer to the European public”.
During the tastings, Essential Costa Rica and Procomer placed special emphasis on raising awareness of the properties and benefits of Costa Rican pineapple and cassava, the latter still uncommon in British consumers’ shopping baskets but with considerable culinary potential. With a smooth texture, gluten-free and suitable for both everyday preparations and more sophisticated gastronomic dishes, cassava can be baked, boiled, fried or cooked in an air fryer, and is available fresh and frozen.
“The UK is already familiar with the excellent adaptability of pineapple, and while consumption in the country remains limited and concentrated among immigrant populations, we have found a great opportunity in cassava,” López said. “We seek to inspire consumers and show that it is a highly versatile ingredient, easy to prepare and with a very attractive nutritional profile.”
The UK phase of the campaign included tastings and in-store promotions in Tesco and Morrisons, as well as a digital activities and advertising at Waterloo underground station.
It closed the first stage of a comprehensive strategy that combined in-store promotions, culinary experiences, digital presence, and a handcrafted visual narrative created exclusively for the campaign.
In the UK, Spain and Germany, the initiative was accompanied by multi-channel actions on different Amazon platforms through a partnership with Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab designed to guide consumers in selecting and preparing Costa Rican products.
“The articulation of this project demonstrates Costa Rica’s ability to innovate in the way it tells its agricultural story to the world,” López said. “In 2026, we will continue to strengthen these initiatives, convinced that the quality and sustainability of our products have an increasingly important place on European tables.”
