“Food means blessing, food is life” that is what food is for some people. You might think that considering vegetables a blessing, however, is a little too much. As1 billion people suffer from hunger these days, vegetables or any type of food are effectively a blessing. Meanwhile, almost another 1 billion people suffer from problems related to a bad diet, mostly coming from a lack of healthy and quality food.
In addition, climate change also plays a big role in the achievement of a sustainable food system. Indeed, 30 years ago, the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change – was asked by the UN to predict possible scenarios given the evolution of Climate Change. The outcome they predicted was what we are living today, exactly as bad.
“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” United Nations
In the definition given by the UN over sustainable development, the focus is the compromising on the use of the resources to preserve them for future generations. However, the crisis has already reached a stage where the lack of resources is already showing. We are facing a crisis due to the diminishing of the resources we had, damaging the planet and ourselves. Therefore, the social component and the environmental component of climate change are way more connected than we thought.
SLOWFOOD
SlowFood is an organization based in Italy. Born in 1898, “Good, Clean, Fair food for everyone” is their slogan which is in line with their mission. Indeed, the organization promotes a new sustainable way to deal with food, focusing on protecting local food and valuing small producers. In 2004, the organization had its first big gathering with over 6000 farmers coming from so many different places.
How many times have we heard about “increasing production” as a solution to solve global hunger? Statistically, humans produce enough food for 10 billion people, so almost double the number of people that there are in the world. Still, the problem is not solved. Around 1/3 of the total amount of food we produce is wasted because of the way we treat it. We don’t lack food; we lack fairness and social justice.
FOOD IS THE CAUSE, THE VICTIM AND THE SOLUTION
Food production is polluting, creating social inequalities, and ruining the fertility of our soil. Nevertheless, the food system is also a victim, suffering from the effects of the climate crisis. Lastly, food can be a part of the solution. The food system of the future, fair, good and clean, could be achieved through three pillars which should be given priority. The first regards Bio-cultural diversity. Bio-cultural diversity allows us to have such a diverse food system and should be defended. Secondly, a good education over the problem definitely plays an important role to assure a fairer system. Lastly, advocacy is crucial, as a change to the current regulative policies is urgently needed if we want effects to be produced on a large scale.
MIGRATION AND FOOD
Communities are the starting point of the action plan. Often, they are subjected to injustices, underrepresented, and not listened to when they have so much to offer. Through a project based on cultural and gastronomic integration, Slowfood was able to give a voice to Roma people living in a camp in Turin, Italy. Their community was starving, they needed food and nobody was willing to listen to them. Ab, who is himself part of a social minority in Italy, helped them reach out to the mayor of the city and realize an event to collect funding for the community. The event was a success, traditional food was the protagonist. Once again, it was proven that all the discrepancies, prejudices and discrimination can be put aside over a good meal.
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