🗺 Territorial marketing is a set of strategies and activities, aimed at promoting a specific geographical area. It starts with the analysis of the competitive qualities of the area - from a cultural or a naturalistic point of view - and the target customer base. Tourism communication, then, passes through specific storytelling, which aims to highlight and enhance the attractions, culture, services and hospitality of a destination.

🗺 Territorial marketing and tourism could represent a winning combination which can lead to the revaluation of entire areas, making them capable of attracting the right kind of clientele depending on the characteristics of the area itself. The difficulty of tourism marketing, in fact, lies in its being closely tied to reality and the concrete experiences that consumers will be able to have there.

🗺 Transparency, in this area, is almost more essential than in any other sector. Enhancing an area means understanding, promoting and amplifying its positive aspects, but without denying-at least not blindly and voluntarily-its critical aspects. Territorial Marketing turns out to be a good practice, generally advanced by a local authority in favor of enhancing the value of the area of reference. 

🗺 Territorial Marketing is a process, aimed at creating value for the set of actors that enjoy a territory predetermined in its boundaries: residents, visitors, tourists and organizations.

It features:

👉 Similarities with principles of marketing management and business marketing; 

👉Marketing as a connector between supply and demand, tending to the greatest possible satisfaction of the former; 

👉Analysis of needs and available resources as the starting point of the territorial marketing process; 

👉 Need to segment demand; 

👉 Need to involve multiple actors or stakeholders in both the identification and development of marketing actions; 

Its ultimate goal is the enhancement of territorial resources as a whole with different but mutually compatible and as synergistic as possible actions. 

🗺 Territorial marketing is also a socio-economic business in which the basic principles of marketing are founded but with a greater focus in promoting the image of the respective territory, improving the performance of its apparatus, as well as contributing to a favorable investment climate and the implementation of programs of a social nature. In our case, also of an environmental nature.

🐌 Speaking about Best Practices in the field of Food & Food Storytelling, how not to mention Slow Food.

🐌 Betting on consumer education and awareness, Slow Food has in fact adopted "narrative labels" for its Presidia products since 2012. 

🐌 Narrative labels are printed labels, besides the normal product labels, which convey a great amount of information to help consumers make informed decisions about purchases, from the story of the producers to the specific traits of crops or breeds, from the history of the products to the traditional know-how employed in the manifacture. 

🐌 The origin of ingredients, the use of zero-mile products, the use of traditional recipes can be vehicles to narrate a story of social, economic and environmental sustainability and the human value behind a product in order to rngage the audience.

🐌 These labels start from the realization that no technical approach takes into account what lies behind a product: the origin, the history, the processing technique - and does not allow the consumer to understand whether a food is produced with respect for the environment and social justice. Moreover, Slow Food denounces, the communication that accompanies products is often mystifying": it refers to peasant worlds filled with poetry, alleged traditional techniques, vague references to ancient flavors. Evocative elements actually far removed from the actual qualities of the products advertised".

🐌 Slow Food mission and commitment for a future built around gastronomy, considered a multidisciplinary science with the goal of acheiving "good, fair and clean" food and of liberating the creative energy of committed individuals and communities around the world - to empower communities and consumers with social responsability. 

🐌 In this way, with this set of values and principles - the ones we share - Food storytelling can become a concrete tool to mobilize energies towards true change in local and global food systems.

🐌 Slow Food's philosophy is based on three pillars of food, involving political, cultural and social instances:

📌Good. Organoleptic goodness, which educated and trained senses can recognize, is the result of the expertise of those who produce, the choice of raw materials and production methods that do not alter their naturalness. It is organoleptic quality, the pleasure of taste also understood in cultural terms. Because "good" is relative (what is good for me may not be good for an Oriental and vice versa). 

📌Clean. The environment must be respected by employing sustainable agricultural, animal husbandry, processing, marketing and consumption practices. In fact, all steps in the agri-food chain-including consumption-should protect ecosystems and biodiversity while protecting the health of the consumer and producer. Clean is the sustainability and durability of all processes related to food, from planting respecting biodiversity, through cultivation, storytelling, processing to transportation, distribution to final consumption, without waste and through conscious choices. 

📌Just. Social justice is to be pursued through the creation of working conditions that respect humans and their rights and generate adequate gratification; through the pursuit of balanced global economies; through the practice of solidarity; through respect for cultural diversity and traditions. Fair means without exploitation, direct or indirect, of those who work in the countryside, gratifying and sufficient wages, but at the same time respect for the pockets of those who buy valuing equity, solidarity, giving and sharing.

📋 Before you compost your old menu, think carefully about your current offerings. Just because it isn’t sustainable right now, doesn’t mean you have to scrap the whole thing. It may be a matter of implementing some greener practices to your current offering. So, take a look at your menu and ask yourself the following questions:

👉 Are your ingredients sourced from local and organic suppliers?

👉 Is your menu adaptable to seasonal changes?

👉 Are your portions sized correctly?

👉 Are you conscious of food waste?

👉 Do you grow any of your own ingredients?

📋 If most of the answers are negative, here you have some helpful tips on how to make your menu sustainable:

• Localise your Supply Chain

• Update your Menu seasonally

• In-House Production

• Start an Onsite garden

• Reduce Portion Sizes

• Serve Less Meat

• Shorten Your Menu

• Reduce Food Waste

• Go Organic

• Buy in Bulk

• Partner with the Community

• Abandon disposable packaging

• Think Beyond Food

📋 Sustainable menus also do have loads of benefits. For example:

• Reduced Operating Costs: According to the researchers, loads of the annual energy bill for the commercial food service sector is spent on inefficient food cooking, holding, and store equipment. As a result, sustainable practices could reduce restaurant operating costs by up to 30%.

• Attract New Customers: Sustainability is a particularly trendy topic among millennials, for example. Younger generations are much more aware of environmental sustainability issues. indulging this trend can also have good results from the perspective of attracting customers

• Marketing Opportunities: Branding your restaurant as a sustainable venue can help set your venue apart from the competition and garner positive attention.

• Good for the Planet: It goes without saying that efforts to save energy, reduce waste, and implement other sustainable green practices have a positive impact on the planet.

📋 In addition, there are several analytical tools that can be useful in assessing the environmental impact of a supply chain such as the fish industry, i.e. the Life Cycle Assessment, with a series of Sustainability Indicators  to provide comprehensive information on the potential environmental impacts of a production, identify actions to mitigate-compensate these impacts, and enhance virtuous aspects and best practices.

• What are the main environmental impacts generated by the production chain?

• What are the best practices to ensure sustainable production? 

• How to enhance and communicate those virtuous practices used?

📋 Life cycle analysis is an established tool (ISO 14040-14044:2006 - Life Cycle Assessment) for identifying and measuring the potential impacts of a production system. "Life cycle" means all processes involved in the production of a good "from cradle to grave," i.e., from the sourcing of raw materials to the end-of-life destination of the product. In the case of livestock farms, for example, a life cycle analysis is understood to extend to an entire production file, from feed production, to breeding and rearing practices, to meat processing and management of production waste and manure. The analysis includes assessment of intermediate and end-of-life transport processes of consumable materials. One of these indicators calculated through the LCA, is the Carbon Footprint  method and consists of the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere (ISO/TS14067: 2013) generated by the various processes along the production chain. These emissions are calculated in units of CO2 equivalent (kg CO2-eq). Estimating the CO2 emitted to obtain a unit of product is indicative of a production's level of sustainability with respect to global-scale environmental issues such as the greenhouse effect and climate change. Through this information a company can improve the environmental performance of a production, avoiding unnecessary waste of energy and resources. In addition, the presence of forested areas or tree crops can provide a system for offsetting emissions and enhancing the role of certain ecosystems, such as by offsetting emissions through direct on-farm removals (carbon neutrality). In addition to atmospheric CO2 emissions, other indicators such as acidification potentials, eutrophication, aquatic, marine and terrestrial eco-toxicity, etc. are calculated through LCA. This data, reported on a narrative label, can give extra, very important information to enable consumers to make truly informed choices.

✏ As we said, we should change the way we eat, change the way we produce and process food, change the way we connect citizens to food production. Maybe this change can be reachable and feasible if we also change the way we narrate food.

✏ Statistics tell us that, on average, Europeans eat 23 kilograms of fish per year. And that the Adriatic alone supports half of Italy's fisheries. A kind of exploitation that over the years has made poor and sick a sea that was once among the richest in the Mediterranean. Today, fish stocks are collapsing and catches of some species have halved. What can we do? We have to find a way to educate consumers, and users, in order to safeguard the Adriatic Sea, eat healthy, good and sustainable diets, and not impact marine wildlife and biodiversity. But how? By telling a good story thanks to narrative menus!

How to narrate fish in a sustainable way

• The product

First of all, describe the salient features of the fish, shellfish (or fish preserve), including any information about its history or curiosities related to its production. 

Example: 

• Sizes

When it comes to fish, size does matter! You should only buy and sell fish that is mature and has already reproduced. If not, the fish stocks in our seas will inevitably decline. The EU’s fisheries policy and national laws put strict standards in place but use your eyes and ask your fishmonger when in doubt.

• The (local) territory 

Report the stretch of sea where they are fished (and the place where processing or transformation takes place). It is also useful to specify the pedoclimatic and water characteristics, but only those that can give the product unique, identifying and organoleptic characteristics.  

Example: 

• Fishing technique & methods

Indicate the fishing period and technique.  

Example: 

• Processing

Describe the processing and specify when it takes place. Indicate the ingredients used and their origins.

Example: 

• Period of production 

Indicate in which period the product is made. 

Example: 

• Seasonality

Fish also have a season, much as fruits and vegetables. Their breeding and spawning periods, when we wish to refrain from harvesting the fish so that the population might increase, characterize that season. Check before you buy because seasonality varies depending on the species and the area where it is fished. If the fish you wish to purchase is not in season, ask the fishmonger what options there are if it is. Utilizing day-fresh captures of species that are in the proper season would be the greatest choice. There are several calendars available that detail the local seasonality of fish and seafood. Additionally, if you can't help but feel the want to get a species that isn't in season, search for frozen possibilities.

• Stocks

The EU sets the maximum level of fish catches through quotas or limitation of fishing activities. In a nutshell, the more fish in the sea, the more our fishermen are allowed to catch. But when fish stocks decline, we have to reduce the pressure caused by fishing, so stocks can recover. Be sure that your supply chain respect this regulamentation. However, the state of the stocks varies year on year, and is dependent on the specific catch area. A species can thrive in one sea basin but be under pressure elsewhere. So we have to adapt our fishing policy every year and count on the highest quality scientific advice.

We believe that all actors - including consumers - must assume personal responsibility in this challenge for sustainable food production and consumption, including responsible innovation to meet new problems, if the food system is to be transformed to the intended future state. The danger is that participants in the food chain keep doing business as usual. Therefore, research and innovation should focus on transforming the entire food system into a resilient, sustainable system in coordination with other policies. As the European Commission stated in its Recipe for change: An agenda for a climate-smart and sustainable food system for a healthy Europe, the food system should improve its capacity for sustainability, adaptability, responsibility, diversity, and inclusivity:

🌱Sustainable: with respect to natural resource scarcity and in respect of planetary boundaries

🌱 Resilient: with respect to adapting to climate and global change, including extreme events and migration;  

🌱 Responsible: with respect to being ethical, transparent and accountable;  

🌱Diverse: with respect to being open to a wide range of technologies, practices, approaches, cultures and business models;  

🌱Competitive: with respect to providing jobs and growth;  

🌱Inclusive: with respect to engaging all food system actors, including civil society, fighting food poverty, and providing healthy food for all.

🇪🇺 We have to face a challenging scenario: in fact, in order to make food systems sustainable, due to their intricate social, economic, and ecological components, we have to implement profound transformations. Future food demand will rise on a global scale and it is not sufficient to merely boost production in a sustainable way in order to fulfill this demand. In order to shift from linear mass consumption to a more circular economy - the real virtuous development alternative we should pursue -  we need to alter our norms, policies, routines, and habits. The data indicates that this type of behavior modification requires both group and individual action. Therefore, we require coordinated governance at the local, national, and global levels.

🇪🇺 As we know, the food system has a large impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing waste or reusing it in the supply chain can help with this. Meanwhile, there are many tremendous chances to build sustainability and resilience with the reform of European agricultural and fisheries policy (CAP and CFP).

🇪🇺 The difficulties of food security and sustainability, together with related problems like climate change, biodiversity loss, urbanization, and population expansion, are widely acknowledged as among the most important ones confronting humanity today. Nowadays,  these two concepts are on everyone's lips. But what do they mean? When everyone, at all times, has physical and financial access to enough, safe, and nutritious food to suit their dietary needs and food choices for an active and healthy life, we talk about - as the standard definition - food security (FAO, 1996). The concept of sustainability is similarly complicated, encompassing social, economic, and environmental aspects. It is typically used to refer to how to satisfy the requirements of the present generation without compromising those of future generations.

🇪??At the current rate of population growth, over 800 million people worldwide experience chronic undernourishment and daily food insecurity, while over 1.9 billion adults are overweight, over 650 million of whom are considered obese. This paradox is sometimes referred to as the "double burden" of malnutrition (WHO, 2018). The majority of analysts concur that "business as usual" is no longer a feasible option and that fundamental change is necessary since the situation is so urgent. The increased focus on the problems facing the food system by international and European institutions reflects this. A system transformation is being supported by a number of organizations, including the recently established European Food Forum. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN), many of which are directly or indirectly tied to food production and consumption, recognise similar issues. For example, SDG2 establishes the objective of ending hunger, whereas SDG12 speaks about more responsible production and consumption practices. SDG5 draws attention to the fact that there are still gendered inequalities in access to clean water to drink and nutritious food throughout the world, as well as to land and other resources. SDG14 and SDG15 emphasize the need to conserve land and marine resources, promoting biodiversity and sustainable development. SDG13 highlights the need for urgent action to combat climate change, in which intensive agricultural production methods and current consumption levels play a significant role.

🇪🇺 There are loads of actions that are required to move towards a more sustainable food system, says the Sustainable Food System Report (2021), i.e. the promotion of "sustainable intensification" and/or scaling up of agroecological techniques are a few of them; enhancing the resilience and robustness of the food system by encouraging dietary shift toward healthier, less resource-intensive, and more plant-based diets; boosting producer and consumer knowledge and awareness, accountability, and stewardship to better inform their decisions. 

We believe that through projects such as AdriEATic (and the ones we have identified as best practices in EU), which mobilize educational institutions, businesses in the fishing and food supply chain, and civil society, we can help do our part.

🇪🇺According to the European Commission's report Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030, "a comprehensive approach entailing a genuine change in how we produce, transform, consume, and distribute food by accelerating the transition to a sustainable food system based on circular economy principles and making innovative, healthy, environment- and animal welfare-friendly, safe, and nutritional food production one of our key European trademarks" is required. Additionally, it asks for "a socially fair transition," bringing up significant moral concerns about equality and justice that this Report aims to address. In a similar spirit, President von der Leyen of the European Commission stressed the necessity of a thorough new Farm to Fork Strategy for a sustainable food system along the whole value chain as well as "a just transition for everyone." The strategy aims to design a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system as part of the European Green Deal.

🇪🇺 European regulation that is most important to us, in the context of AdriEATic, is the Common Fisheries Policy. The original objectives of the CFP are to preserve fish stocks, protect the marine environment, ensure the economic viability of EU fleets and provide consumers with quality food. The new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), adopted by the Council and the European Parliament, which came into force on 1st January 2014, aims to reduce fish stocks to sustainable levels, put an end to fishing practices that lead to a waste of resources, support small scale fisheries and create new opportunities for jobs and growth in coastal areas. The EMFF will provide operators with the necessary incentives to reduce the impact of their activities on marine ecosystems, ending overfishing, and arresting the decline of fish stocks. It will give impetus to innovative projects such as the replacement of fishing nets with more selective gear in order to reduce discards, the development of new technologies that will limit the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on the environment, also strengthening the grant of aids to the traditional coastal fleets, which remain the engine of the economy of many coastal communities. The aquaculture industry will also be supported by promoting new products including non-food, as well as sufficient funds for data collection, monitoring and control.

🇪🇺 According to Farm to Fork, “parallel to the changes in agriculture, there is a need to accelerate the transition to sustainable fish and seafood production. Economic data show that where fisheries have become sustainable, incomes have grown in tandem. The Commission will intensify efforts to bring fish stocks to sustainable levels through the CFP where implementation gaps remain (e.g., by reducing litter at sea), strengthen fisheries management in the Mediterranean in collaboration with all coastal states, and re-evaluate, by 2022, how the CFP addresses risks triggered by climate change. The proposed revision of the EU fisheries control system will help combat fraud through an enhanced traceability system. The mandatory use of digitized catch certificates will strengthen measures to prevent illegal fish products from entering the EU market. Farmed fish and seafood generate a lower carbon footprint than animal production on land. In addition to significant support from the upcoming European Maritime and Fisheries Fund for sustainable fish farming, the Commission plans to adopt EU guidelines for Member States' sustainable aquaculture development plans and to promote the right kind of spending under the Fund. The Commission also plans to provide targeted support for the seaweed industry, which is expected to become an important source of alternative protein for a sustainable food system and global food security”.

⛵ PRIZEFISH is an INTERREG Italy-Croatia project on sustainable fishing. The main objective of PRIZEFISH responds to the ambitious territorial challenge of developing a valuable transnational fish supply chain and to capitalize on this innovation to increase the potential for long-term economic, environmental and social sustainability in the coastal territories of the Adriatic.

⛵ Expected PRIZEFISH results will impact multiple aspects of Adriatic fishery supply- chains:

📌Fishermen and consumer awareness on the benefit of sustainable and certified fishery productions and seafood products will be increased. This tendency will induce a shift of fishery production towards the fishing gear and fish target more sustainable for both the environmental and economic aspect. Effective dissemination and targeted training will lead to the uptake of the guidelines and best practices also by external fishery operators and stakeholders, with a concrete decrease of the fishing pressure on the environment and more profitable fishery production.

📌 A new generation of seafood products will be available to regional and international markets, with their associated certification. Thanks to more efficient processing and packaging methods and tools, the developed innovative products will meet both the requests of the consumers and of the quality standard needed for certifications, being inherently associated with added value for the market.

📌The marketing will be empowered by newly created firms’ network, which will exploit branding and labelling strategies and exploit new distribution channels and market opportunities.

📌Policy recommendations will be transferred to the public institutions, to improve/increase managers’ and decision-makers’ awareness of the potential need at the base for future improvement to foster the building up of Adriatic added-value chains.

🧑‍🍳 Climate Smart Chefs, an european project funded by LIFE Programme, aims to contribute to the development and implementation of the EU Climate Policy and the Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy by actively involving European chefs as promoters of low emission, nutritious and affordable diets, and to promote a mainstream debate on food as a key factor for climate change mitigation. 

🧑‍🍳 The project intends to provide chefs with the knowledge and tools to generate change in recipe design, menu planning and communication with customers, fostering awareness on climate and environmental issues.

🧑‍🍳 In addition, the project promotes a mainstream debate on food as a key factor for climate change mitigation.

Key project activities include:

• the implementation of a high-level training course for chefs

• the development of a digital tool to design climate smart menus

• the creation of an Award dedicated to climate smart chefs and local initiatives promoting sustainable diets

• the creation of an EU Network of chef associations

• the implementation of the Life Climate Smart Chefs Vision 2030, a strategic paper aimed at providing policy recommendations and supporting EU Climate Policy.

🧑‍🍳 Here you can see an interesting webinar, with initial results of the Life Climate Smart Chefs project a report containing 10 top recommendations for climate-smart chefs, with examples from the restaurant sector through case studies. 

🧑‍🍳 The overall objective of the project is to give answer to a crucial question:

🧑‍🍳 How can chefs help save the planet?

🧑‍🍳 Life Climate Smart Chefs top 10 recommendations for chefs:

#1 Focus on seasonal ingredients and try to build dishes around them. 

#2 Cook with locally sourced ingredients. 

#3 Animal products should be from sources that promote high animal welfare and sustainable production systems. 

#4 Prioritise sustainable production systems for all food. 

#5 Use smaller amounts of animal products in your dishes, this includes meat, dairy, eggs and fish. 

#6 Focus on developing or expanding plant based dishes, which contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and water use. 

#7 Aim at reducing and eliminating all forms of waste within your restaurant.  

#8 Putting in place the processes to measure what you are achieving. 

#9 Contribute to initiatives aimed at building bridges between producers, chefs, consumers and all other stakeholders. 

#10 Communicate your ambition with your staff and customers, explaining them your commitment towards a more sustainable food system. 

📆 The three-year SU-EATABLE LIFE project aims to demonstrate the potential for reducing CO2 emissions and water consumption associated with the adoption of healthy, sustainable diets. As part of the project, a series of activities will be implemented at university and company canteens located in Italy and the United Kingdom, making use of a dedicated digital platform to actively engage European citizens to adopt a healthy and sustainable diet. The project aims to demonstrate that this type of diet has benefits not only for people's health, but also for the environment, with estimated savings of about 5,300 tons of CO2 eq. and about 2 million cubic meters of water during the three years of the project.

📆 Considering the entire European population and a medium- to long-term time horizon, it becomes clear how this approach could significantly contribute to achieving the European goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The project has the ambition to involve different stakeholders: not only citizens, but also schools, universities, municipalities, companies and NGOs. 

📆 SU-EATABLE LIFE's Sustainable Cookbook guides the consumers in choosing and preparing many dishes with a small impact on the environment, according to their seasonality. It also provides different kitchen tips, useful for creating tasty, healthy and environmentally friendly diet.

Here you can discover the Cookbook.

🐠 The marine protected area of Torre Guaceto - Carovigno covers two thousand hectares of unspoiled sea, divided into three zones of which only in one, Zone C, is it possible to fish. The marine protected area is part of the nature reserve of the same name, consisting of large expanses of agricultural land used to grow fiaschetto tomatoes, also a Slow Food Presidium, olive trees and artichokes. Archaeological findings within the nature reserve have shown that fishing was already practiced in this area in the Bronze Age (3500 to 1200 B.C.). Today fishing is practiced by six fishermen who join the Emma cooperative. The boats are 4-5 meters long and go out to sea within 12 miles of the coast, practicing sustainable artisanal fishing that respects the ecosystem. For the past decade, the marine area management body has directly involved fishermen in the definition of fishing policies: in this way, the impact of fishing on the marine ecosystem has been contained with excellent results also on the repopulation of marine fauna.

🐠 Fishing within Area C is allowed only once a week, with nets ranging from 500 meters (with 36-millimeter mesh) for catching greenhouse fish (Pomatomus saltatrix) to 1,000 meters (with 30-millimeter mesh) for the remaining prey. 🐠 The catch varies according to the season: mackerel, greenhouse fish, amberjack, skipjack, barracuda, mullet, tombarelli and cuttlefish (in autumn and winter), snapper, bream, gilthead bream and sea bass (in summer and autumn) and octopus and mullet (in spring). Studies done over the years have shown that catch sizes have increased for many species (particularly those of mullet and redfish), and a marine fauna now considered to have disappeared from the area such as the greenhouse fish has returned. The sea is in good health and the fishermen of Torre Guaceto, assisted by the marine area managers, are its best guardians.

🐠 Several realities work in collaboration with each other: Slow Food, the fishermen and the Torre Guaceto Consortium, formed by the municipalities of Carovigno, Brindisi and WWF Italy. The Presidium was created to promote this reality of artisanal fishing-a true model of sustainability and sharing. In the first years, the rules established in the marine area put a strain on the fishermen's activity but, with the passing of time, this commitment has given good results: the sizes, the quantity of the catch have increased and, consequently, the economic results have improved.

🐟 As stated by the European Partnership on Safe and Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet & Climate, the future of the planet's and the people's health in Europe rests on our plates. So we must change the way that food is farmed, fished, processed, distributed, valued, prepared, consumed, and wasted. There are a number of issues that must be resolved in order to move toward safe and sustainable food systems. Environmentally speaking, our food systems use numerous unsustainable farming and fishing techniques that result in excessive nutrient use, pesticide use, a loss of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, and declining soil and water health and quality. These issues are all made worse by significant food loss and waste.

🐟 According to estimates, the global food system accounts for 25 to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, significantly influencing climate change. Unhealthy eating habits are causing a triple burden of undernutrition, overweight, and obesity, as well as a lack of critical micronutrients, which in turn is causing a variety of non-communicable illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several infections. Additionally, the separation between rural and urban areas, unequal access to and food and water and their insecurity that can bring to conflicts, and the highly centralized power in a few food system actors are all issues that are brought on by the globalization of commercial food value chains. Moreover, greater resilience must be a cornerstone of food systems change, as the Covid-19 epidemic has shown, because numerous vulnerabilities can emerge within the framework of robust food operations.

🐟 However, a lot of different initiatives and campaigns have been set up in the last few years in Europe in order to engage the civil society for the development of more sustainable practices regarding food:

🐟 Taste the Ocean, a campaign from the EU with celebrity chefs from all over Europe to encourage consumers to buy and enjoy sustainable fish and seafood. Here you can find the seasonable and sustainable seafood recipes developed during the campaign. And here is the Youtube playlist with the video recipes.

🐟 Open Public Consultation on the Sustainable EU food system framework initiative, launched in 2021 by the European Commission and connected to Farm to Fork Strategy. A broad consultation process was launched, aimed to gather views and input from all stakeholders and citizens that aims to make the EU food system sustainable and to integrate sustainability into all food-related policies, sustainability labelling of food products, minimum criteria for sustainable public procurement of food and governance and monitoring;

🐟 Civil Society's Contribution to the development of a comprehensive Food Policy in the EU;

🐟 Buy Better Food Initiative, which use public procurement to make healthy and sustainable food accessible and affordable to all Europeans.

The philosophy of this kind of initiative and campaigns is that if we are part of the problem, we can be part of the solution - thanks to communities and civic engagement. 

Let's see, concretely, what can happen when critical thinkers and active citizens reason about the common good and sustainable progress of a community and organise their common life virtuously. 

Given these facts:

• Food systems globally contribute to 1/3 of total greenhouse gas emissions.

• Unhealthy diets are responsible for 49% of cardiovascular diseases, the EU’s main cause of death, with an estimated annual cost of €102 billion for health systems and society.

• 16-22% of EU school-age children are overweight, 1/4 of them are obese.

• Within the agricultural sector in Europe, livestock farming is responsible for 78% of biodiversity loss and 81% of global warming. 

• In many EU countries, migrant workers in the food industry often face slavery-like working condition.

These are some of the communities solutions, success stories and best practices around Europe, in the context of Buy Better Food:

• The introduction of vegetarian meals in schools in Turin (Italy) resulted in a 32% reduction in the carbon footprint of school menus. 

• By procuring up to 77% of their food locally, the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (UK) saved 150,000 food miles and £6 million/year. 

• 90% of public sector meals in Copenhagen (Denmark) are organic, a target that has influenced local producers to transition to more sustainable practice.

• In Greenwich (UK), the provision of healthier and more nutritious school meals resulted in improvement in educational outcomes and higher attendance.

Not bad, uh?

It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. 

So, let’s start cooperating for a better future beginning with the thing we do best.. eating!