10th Villarceaux Declaration

of Eating City Summer Campus 2024

Read more

Targeting 100% Organic, Local and Homemade Meals in Dordogne Secondary Schools

Read more

Small plate, big impact

A healthy school meal for every child in every school - sign the petition here!

Read more

2nd Eating City - Food Wave Ambassador Meeting

Read more

Are you a Chef or a Champion?

Take part in the Cous Cous Challenge!

Read more

7th Villarceaux Declaration

of Eating City Summer Campus 2019

Read more

7th Eating City Summer Campus 2019

As part of the SAPIENS Early Stage Research project N° 15 “Bringing Sustainability to the Collective Table”, which explores sustainable public food procurement in Europe, with a focus on Italy and France, and thanks to the partner organisation Eating City, ESR Chiara Falvo had the opportunity to carry out a 2-month fieldwork at the Departmental Council of Dordogne, in France. From mid-September to mid November 2022, she collaborated closely with the Education Division, in Périgueux, to investigate their school food project and to develop future food procurement strategies.

 

Drawing on the presentation made on 25th November 2022 at the International Workshop Public Food Procurement for Schools amidst a Health and Financial Crisis, this report aims to present the main aspects of the ‘Dordogne approach’ for sustainable school meals. It will firstly provide a brief overview of school catering in France and in the Department of Dordogne, followed by an outline of the latter’s innovative school food project. Three aspects will be explored in depth: public food procurement, cost management and the ECOCERT certification mechanism. Finally, a number of strong points and future opportunities will be highlighted.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

 

Eating City is taking part in the “Buy Better Food” Campaign for sustainable and healthy school meals.

Small plate, big impact: Buy Better Food launches campaign for healthy school meals 

The Buy Better Food Campaign has initiated an EU-wide petition for ‘A healthy meal for every child in every EU School’. The aim is to invite cities and citizens to urge EU and national policy makers to implement sustainable school meals for the implementation of the EU Farm to Fork strategy.

EU child obesity rates are on the rise, with almost 1 in 3 children (29% of boys and 27% of girls) overweight or living with obesity. Diet related ill health now causes more deaths than tobacco or alcohol and accounts for 11% of the health budget in EU countries. With food at school making up more than 50% of energy intake for many pupils, good school meals and food education have been identified as key, cost effective public health measures. Peter Defranceschi, who heads the food work at ICLEI, one of the Buy Better Food Coalition members, contributed, “We are very concerned about children in our communities being left behind. Food prices are skyrocketing and the provision of food in schools is patchy – with some schools not offering a school meal at all. We demand that the EU guarantees healthy food and education for all children, in all schools, across the EU, and we are asking you to join us”.

Currently not all EU schools offer lunch, which leaves children at risk of hunger during the day. Better school food would help deliver the European Child Guarantee, announced by EU Commission president in 2019 and designed to ensure that every EU child at risk of poverty has access to their most basic rights.

In Europe, local and regional public authorities play a key role in implementing sustainable food systems, and they have the mandate to procure food or catering services (sustainable food procurement) for their institutions/bodies, such as schools, daycares, hospitals, etc.

Public food procurement constitutes a sizeable and powerful market and opportunity to invest in healthier food systems. Each year, an estimated €82 billion in public money is spent on public sector food and this could be directed to sustainable producers and help tackle the worrying climate footprint of EU diets.

The European Commission has two key opportunities over the coming months to guarantee good food for all schoolchildren. The EU Farm to Fork Strategy has aspirations to, “determine the best modalities for setting minimum mandatory criteria for sustainable food procurement to promote healthy and sustainable diets, including organic products, in schools and public institutions”. The commission also intends to “review the EU School Scheme legal framework with a view to refocus the scheme on healthy and sustainable food”. This scheme already offers financial help for fruits, vegetables and milk in schools, combined with food education activities, such as farm visits.

Defranceschi adds, ‘The European Commission told us on several occasions that the time for inspiring them with concrete ideas was now. The #SmallPlateBigImpact Petition is about school food healthy for people and planet and about social justice. Combined with food education on healthy food habits and local food culture, your support can make change happen’.

As the academic year begins for many EU schools, support the ‘A healthy school meal for every child in every EU school’ petition here.

For more information about the Buy Better Food campaign go here.

 

We are pleased to invite you to the 2nd Eating City – Food Wave Ambassador Meeting which will take place online on the 25th of March 2022.
This meeting represents the opportunity for all the Ambassadors of our community to gather together and discuss the contents of the “Eating City – Food wave Manifesto”. Every Ambassador will have the chance to share his/her own experience, to contribute to the first draft of the manifesto.

Before the final approval of the Final text of the manifesto there will an ongoing process with monthly online meetings (Zoom) on these dates:
April 27– May 25– June 29 From 17h30 to 19h00 CET

You are not an Ambassador? Don’t worry about it! You can become one by visiting our web site.
Food Wave needs you and your ideas to change the future of our cities.

Join the movement, become a change-maker.

JOIN US ONLINE!

 

We are pleased to announce the 3rd Eating City Workshop in the framework of the EU Project “Food Wave – Empowering Urban Youth for Climate Action.” inviting 50 participants aged 18-35 from European and Partners countries – working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change.

Chefs, Gastronomists, Nutritionists, Food Procurement Officers, F&B Buyers, Farmers, Fishermen, Foodies, young professional:  anyone working or studying around food and climate change issues is invited to share with us this challenging adventure.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

 

Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems

Within the Food Wave project, Eating City will be hosting the 3rd international workshop entitled “Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems: the role of women in the food system”.

The workshop will take place on  23rd & 24th of October, from 15:00-18:30 (October, 23rd) and 10:00 – 18:30 (October, 24th) CEST – online (Zoom).

Candidates who are interested in registering for the event can fill out the following Registration form

UPDATED INFORMATION:
– The full Final Call for participants including the Agenda of the Workshop
– The Preparatory Documents (which all participants must read before the Workshop)
For any questions you can contact us here at foodwave@eatingcity.org
Looking forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Maurizio Mariani

Director of Eating City

 

The challenge:

Prepare your couscous recipe, take a photo and upload it to the Cous Cous Fest website.

Get your friends to vote for you, and you could become the next Cous Cous Fest World Champion!

How to take part:

The contest is open to professional chefs who are foreign nationals (living in Italy or abroad) between 18 and 35. To take part, upload the photo of a couscous-based recipe made in a sustainable way (sweet or savoury), along with your curriculum and a description.

Each participant must accompany their recipe with the following caption: “Recipe for Food Wave Competition

 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 29 AUGUST 2021

 

April 2nd & 3rd 2021

More than 60 Youths food activists from 23 countries have been selected for this challenging workshop !

The Workshop is now ready and therefore, please find below

•          Participant’s Handbook

•          Agenda

•          Participant’s list

This workshop will be 100% on line via  ZOOM platform starting at 09h00 on April 2 and ending on April 3 at 12h30 (CET Time).

Workshop topic & objective:  Highlighting the impact that the “out-of-home food consumption” sector can provide in the fight against climate change and sharing a common declaration addressed to the presidency of COP26.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

The project is co-funded by the EU and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 28 project partners in 17 countries. The network consists of 17 cities, 4 municipal agencies and 8 civil society organizations closely linked with the cities. C40, the international network of cities engaged in the fight against climate change, is also affiliated to the project.

Lead: Municipality of Milan

Core Team: ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese

Cities and municipal agencies: Almere, Metropolitan Agency Brasov, Bruges, Frankfurt, Lisbon CLLD Network, London, Malmö, Institute Wcycle Maribor, Madrid, Groundwork Greater Manchester, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Murcia, Nea Smyrni, Pest, Turin, Sao Paolo, Sofia, Warsaw, Zagreb

Civil society organizations: European Association for Local Democracy – ALDA, ActionAid Hellas, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée – BJCEM, Erasmus Student Network Italy – ESN Italy, Risteco-Eating City.

 

 

Lead the change and participate in our call for proposals with your project idea.

The Food Wave Project – co-funded by the EU under the Development Education and Awareness Raising Programme (DEAR) and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 25 project partners in 17 countries, including ALDA – is launching its first call for proposals with the aim to finance 21 projects developed by small youth-led civil society organizations with a contribution up to 3000 euros.

What is the main objective of the call of proposal?

The project will support grass-root initiatives addressing climate-friendly food consumption behaviors developed by small youth organizations interested in the field but lacking the necessary means to do so.

Which is the thematic focus?

Each project needs to address the nexus between food and climate change!

Where can the project be implemented?

Activities must take place in one of the following EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK.

Visit the Food Wave website to have more information about the call and how to apply!

The call will be open from January 25th to February 28th.

In order to learn more about the call requirements and hear some tips to improve your application, an online informative session will take place on February 10th! Stay up to date for further details!

Follow the FoodWave Facebook and Instagram pages to stay updated

#CatchTheWave and Lead the Change!

Sincerely,

Maurizio Mariani, Director of Eating City

 FOOD WAVE WORKSHOP REPORT

The 1st Eating City Workshop in the framework of the EU Project “Food Wave – Empowering Urban Youth for Climate Action” inviting participants aged 18-35 working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change took place  on November 7 – 8 2020.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

The project is co-funded by the EU and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 28 project partners in 17 countries. The network consists of 17 cities, 4 municipal agencies and 8 civil society organizations closely linked with the cities. C40, the international network of cities engaged in the fight against climate change, is also affiliated to the project.

———————–

Participants:

18-35 year olds working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change, exchanged by video conference due to recent Covid19 restrictions.

Workshop topic & Objective:
Highlighting the impact that the “out-of-home food consumption” sector can provide in the fight against climate change and sharing a common declaration addressed to the presidency of COP26 in 2021.

FOOD WAVE WS AGENDA 

Foodwave Plenary Presentations:

M MARIANI Out of home food consumption

E MONGE Impact of our Food system

N ROBECCHI How Gastronomy can help

 

 Follow on Facebook and  #Catch the wave!

 

 

For several years, the Dordogne area of France has been strongly in favor of the introduction of organic and locally-sourced products in its public catering services. At the start of the 2019 school year, the Belvès school in France was the first to be certified 100% organic. Since then, the approach has developed and amplified throughout the department and a second school in Montpon-Ménestérol also obtained the “Ecocert label” for its 100% organic canteen cuisine in October 2020.

Eating City is mentioned on page 5 of the recent Presse Release (in French) of the Dordogne Departmental Council as its Director, Maurizio Mariani will accompany renowned French Chef Olivier Roellinger during his visit to the Dordogne to attend the award ceremony on Friday October 16th.

Extract of page 5 of the Dordogne Departmental Council Press release, translated into English for the EC website purposes by Corinne Stewart:

“As the patron of the “Pieds dans le plat” organization, Olivier Roellinger, the renowed French Chef with an international reputation, discovered the work undertaken in favor of organic and local products in the public catering of schools. For the presentation of the 100% organic and local label at Montpon school, he decided to make the trip in Dordogne to support this work carried out in the field. He was accompanied by Maurizio Mariani, Director of Eating City, an international program for better nutrition in public catering.
Olivier Roellinger is one of the great talents in current gastronomy. He is a pioneering cook, eloquent and militant. In 1982, he created a “table d’hôte” in his family home (a Malouinière called “Maison de Bricourt ”in Cancale) which six months later was awarded 2 toques and a score of 15 out of 20 in the Gault Millau gourmet guide. It combines local ingredients and spices, reminiscent of Saint-Malo’s link with the route to India. He obtained his first Michelin star in 1984, and the second in 1988, 19 out of 20 in the Gault and Millau guide in 1990. In 2006, he was the only Chef promoted to a third star.
With Michel Bras or Pierre Gagnaire, he became one of the great representatives of contemporary French cuisine, and a promoter of culinary mixing. On November 7, 2008, aged 53, he decided to close his 3-star restaurant. Believing that he no longer has the necessary physical condition to be behind the stoves every day, he justifies his departure for personal reasons and the wish to start “a new life”. Passionate about spices, he seeks the best quality, favoring organic crops and Fair trade.”

Eating-and-talking-in-the-square-Turin3

 

Today, more than ever, we feel the duty to say that we cannot continue to treat the school canteen as a trivial utility and food as a commodity. Enough is enough!

We have therefore decided to take action in favour of food diversity and sustainability in school canteens, against ”food Fordism” and against those companies that want to lower the quality of service in the name of food safety and other technical aspects.

Together with many Italian cities and with the Italian FoodInsider platform, we are able to show that we can do much better.

After every great crisis, great opportunities for change always arise and we intend to make our legitimate contribution to this necessary paradigm shift.

This is a call to action!

The Italian Position Paper -“La Mensa Bene Comune” has already already been addressed to the Italian Ministry of education and to many different stakeholders.

The international version – “Italian school canteen as a common good”

 

Author: Maurizio Mariani- Eating City Director

Advocacy campaign in favor of sustainable school canteens

Eating City has started an advocacy campaign in favor of sustainable school canteens in light of Covid-19

As part of the SAPIENS Early Stage Research project N° 15 “Bringing Sustainability to the Collective Table”, which explores sustainable public food procurement in Europe, with a focus on Italy and France, and thanks to the partner organisation Eating City, ESR Chiara Falvo had the opportunity to carry out a 2-month fieldwork at the Departmental Council of Dordogne, in France. From mid-September to mid November 2022, she collaborated closely with the Education Division, in Périgueux, to investigate their school food project and to develop future food procurement strategies.

 

Drawing on the presentation made on 25th November 2022 at the International Workshop Public Food Procurement for Schools amidst a Health and Financial Crisis, this report aims to present the main aspects of the ‘Dordogne approach’ for sustainable school meals. It will firstly provide a brief overview of school catering in France and in the Department of Dordogne, followed by an outline of the latter’s innovative school food project. Three aspects will be explored in depth: public food procurement, cost management and the ECOCERT certification mechanism. Finally, a number of strong points and future opportunities will be highlighted.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

 

Eating City is taking part in the “Buy Better Food” Campaign for sustainable and healthy school meals.

Small plate, big impact: Buy Better Food launches campaign for healthy school meals 

The Buy Better Food Campaign has initiated an EU-wide petition for ‘A healthy meal for every child in every EU School’. The aim is to invite cities and citizens to urge EU and national policy makers to implement sustainable school meals for the implementation of the EU Farm to Fork strategy.

EU child obesity rates are on the rise, with almost 1 in 3 children (29% of boys and 27% of girls) overweight or living with obesity. Diet related ill health now causes more deaths than tobacco or alcohol and accounts for 11% of the health budget in EU countries. With food at school making up more than 50% of energy intake for many pupils, good school meals and food education have been identified as key, cost effective public health measures. Peter Defranceschi, who heads the food work at ICLEI, one of the Buy Better Food Coalition members, contributed, “We are very concerned about children in our communities being left behind. Food prices are skyrocketing and the provision of food in schools is patchy – with some schools not offering a school meal at all. We demand that the EU guarantees healthy food and education for all children, in all schools, across the EU, and we are asking you to join us”.

Currently not all EU schools offer lunch, which leaves children at risk of hunger during the day. Better school food would help deliver the European Child Guarantee, announced by EU Commission president in 2019 and designed to ensure that every EU child at risk of poverty has access to their most basic rights.

In Europe, local and regional public authorities play a key role in implementing sustainable food systems, and they have the mandate to procure food or catering services (sustainable food procurement) for their institutions/bodies, such as schools, daycares, hospitals, etc.

Public food procurement constitutes a sizeable and powerful market and opportunity to invest in healthier food systems. Each year, an estimated €82 billion in public money is spent on public sector food and this could be directed to sustainable producers and help tackle the worrying climate footprint of EU diets.

The European Commission has two key opportunities over the coming months to guarantee good food for all schoolchildren. The EU Farm to Fork Strategy has aspirations to, “determine the best modalities for setting minimum mandatory criteria for sustainable food procurement to promote healthy and sustainable diets, including organic products, in schools and public institutions”. The commission also intends to “review the EU School Scheme legal framework with a view to refocus the scheme on healthy and sustainable food”. This scheme already offers financial help for fruits, vegetables and milk in schools, combined with food education activities, such as farm visits.

Defranceschi adds, ‘The European Commission told us on several occasions that the time for inspiring them with concrete ideas was now. The #SmallPlateBigImpact Petition is about school food healthy for people and planet and about social justice. Combined with food education on healthy food habits and local food culture, your support can make change happen’.

As the academic year begins for many EU schools, support the ‘A healthy school meal for every child in every EU school’ petition here.

For more information about the Buy Better Food campaign go here.

 

We are pleased to invite you to the 2nd Eating City – Food Wave Ambassador Meeting which will take place online on the 25th of March 2022.
This meeting represents the opportunity for all the Ambassadors of our community to gather together and discuss the contents of the “Eating City – Food wave Manifesto”. Every Ambassador will have the chance to share his/her own experience, to contribute to the first draft of the manifesto.

Before the final approval of the Final text of the manifesto there will an ongoing process with monthly online meetings (Zoom) on these dates:
April 27– May 25– June 29 From 17h30 to 19h00 CET

You are not an Ambassador? Don’t worry about it! You can become one by visiting our web site.
Food Wave needs you and your ideas to change the future of our cities.

Join the movement, become a change-maker.

JOIN US ONLINE!

 

We are pleased to announce the 3rd Eating City Workshop in the framework of the EU Project “Food Wave – Empowering Urban Youth for Climate Action.” inviting 50 participants aged 18-35 from European and Partners countries – working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change.

Chefs, Gastronomists, Nutritionists, Food Procurement Officers, F&B Buyers, Farmers, Fishermen, Foodies, young professional:  anyone working or studying around food and climate change issues is invited to share with us this challenging adventure.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

 

Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems

Within the Food Wave project, Eating City will be hosting the 3rd international workshop entitled “Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems: the role of women in the food system”.

The workshop will take place on  23rd & 24th of October, from 15:00-18:30 (October, 23rd) and 10:00 – 18:30 (October, 24th) CEST – online (Zoom).

Candidates who are interested in registering for the event can fill out the following Registration form

UPDATED INFORMATION:
– The full Final Call for participants including the Agenda of the Workshop
– The Preparatory Documents (which all participants must read before the Workshop)
For any questions you can contact us here at foodwave@eatingcity.org
Looking forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Maurizio Mariani

Director of Eating City

 

The challenge:

Prepare your couscous recipe, take a photo and upload it to the Cous Cous Fest website.

Get your friends to vote for you, and you could become the next Cous Cous Fest World Champion!

How to take part:

The contest is open to professional chefs who are foreign nationals (living in Italy or abroad) between 18 and 35. To take part, upload the photo of a couscous-based recipe made in a sustainable way (sweet or savoury), along with your curriculum and a description.

Each participant must accompany their recipe with the following caption: “Recipe for Food Wave Competition

 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 29 AUGUST 2021

 

April 2nd & 3rd 2021

More than 60 Youths food activists from 23 countries have been selected for this challenging workshop !

The Workshop is now ready and therefore, please find below

•          Participant’s Handbook

•          Agenda

•          Participant’s list

This workshop will be 100% on line via  ZOOM platform starting at 09h00 on April 2 and ending on April 3 at 12h30 (CET Time).

Workshop topic & objective:  Highlighting the impact that the “out-of-home food consumption” sector can provide in the fight against climate change and sharing a common declaration addressed to the presidency of COP26.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

The project is co-funded by the EU and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 28 project partners in 17 countries. The network consists of 17 cities, 4 municipal agencies and 8 civil society organizations closely linked with the cities. C40, the international network of cities engaged in the fight against climate change, is also affiliated to the project.

Lead: Municipality of Milan

Core Team: ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese

Cities and municipal agencies: Almere, Metropolitan Agency Brasov, Bruges, Frankfurt, Lisbon CLLD Network, London, Malmö, Institute Wcycle Maribor, Madrid, Groundwork Greater Manchester, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Murcia, Nea Smyrni, Pest, Turin, Sao Paolo, Sofia, Warsaw, Zagreb

Civil society organizations: European Association for Local Democracy – ALDA, ActionAid Hellas, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée – BJCEM, Erasmus Student Network Italy – ESN Italy, Risteco-Eating City.

 

 

Lead the change and participate in our call for proposals with your project idea.

The Food Wave Project – co-funded by the EU under the Development Education and Awareness Raising Programme (DEAR) and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 25 project partners in 17 countries, including ALDA – is launching its first call for proposals with the aim to finance 21 projects developed by small youth-led civil society organizations with a contribution up to 3000 euros.

What is the main objective of the call of proposal?

The project will support grass-root initiatives addressing climate-friendly food consumption behaviors developed by small youth organizations interested in the field but lacking the necessary means to do so.

Which is the thematic focus?

Each project needs to address the nexus between food and climate change!

Where can the project be implemented?

Activities must take place in one of the following EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK.

Visit the Food Wave website to have more information about the call and how to apply!

The call will be open from January 25th to February 28th.

In order to learn more about the call requirements and hear some tips to improve your application, an online informative session will take place on February 10th! Stay up to date for further details!

Follow the FoodWave Facebook and Instagram pages to stay updated

#CatchTheWave and Lead the Change!

Sincerely,

Maurizio Mariani, Director of Eating City

 FOOD WAVE WORKSHOP REPORT

The 1st Eating City Workshop in the framework of the EU Project “Food Wave – Empowering Urban Youth for Climate Action” inviting participants aged 18-35 working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change took place  on November 7 – 8 2020.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

The project is co-funded by the EU and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 28 project partners in 17 countries. The network consists of 17 cities, 4 municipal agencies and 8 civil society organizations closely linked with the cities. C40, the international network of cities engaged in the fight against climate change, is also affiliated to the project.

———————–

Participants:

18-35 year olds working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change, exchanged by video conference due to recent Covid19 restrictions.

Workshop topic & Objective:
Highlighting the impact that the “out-of-home food consumption” sector can provide in the fight against climate change and sharing a common declaration addressed to the presidency of COP26 in 2021.

FOOD WAVE WS AGENDA 

Foodwave Plenary Presentations:

M MARIANI Out of home food consumption

E MONGE Impact of our Food system

N ROBECCHI How Gastronomy can help

 

 Follow on Facebook and  #Catch the wave!

 

 

For several years, the Dordogne area of France has been strongly in favor of the introduction of organic and locally-sourced products in its public catering services. At the start of the 2019 school year, the Belvès school in France was the first to be certified 100% organic. Since then, the approach has developed and amplified throughout the department and a second school in Montpon-Ménestérol also obtained the “Ecocert label” for its 100% organic canteen cuisine in October 2020.

Eating City is mentioned on page 5 of the recent Presse Release (in French) of the Dordogne Departmental Council as its Director, Maurizio Mariani will accompany renowned French Chef Olivier Roellinger during his visit to the Dordogne to attend the award ceremony on Friday October 16th.

Extract of page 5 of the Dordogne Departmental Council Press release, translated into English for the EC website purposes by Corinne Stewart:

“As the patron of the “Pieds dans le plat” organization, Olivier Roellinger, the renowed French Chef with an international reputation, discovered the work undertaken in favor of organic and local products in the public catering of schools. For the presentation of the 100% organic and local label at Montpon school, he decided to make the trip in Dordogne to support this work carried out in the field. He was accompanied by Maurizio Mariani, Director of Eating City, an international program for better nutrition in public catering.
Olivier Roellinger is one of the great talents in current gastronomy. He is a pioneering cook, eloquent and militant. In 1982, he created a “table d’hôte” in his family home (a Malouinière called “Maison de Bricourt ”in Cancale) which six months later was awarded 2 toques and a score of 15 out of 20 in the Gault Millau gourmet guide. It combines local ingredients and spices, reminiscent of Saint-Malo’s link with the route to India. He obtained his first Michelin star in 1984, and the second in 1988, 19 out of 20 in the Gault and Millau guide in 1990. In 2006, he was the only Chef promoted to a third star.
With Michel Bras or Pierre Gagnaire, he became one of the great representatives of contemporary French cuisine, and a promoter of culinary mixing. On November 7, 2008, aged 53, he decided to close his 3-star restaurant. Believing that he no longer has the necessary physical condition to be behind the stoves every day, he justifies his departure for personal reasons and the wish to start “a new life”. Passionate about spices, he seeks the best quality, favoring organic crops and Fair trade.”

Eating-and-talking-in-the-square-Turin3

 

Today, more than ever, we feel the duty to say that we cannot continue to treat the school canteen as a trivial utility and food as a commodity. Enough is enough!

We have therefore decided to take action in favour of food diversity and sustainability in school canteens, against ”food Fordism” and against those companies that want to lower the quality of service in the name of food safety and other technical aspects.

Together with many Italian cities and with the Italian FoodInsider platform, we are able to show that we can do much better.

After every great crisis, great opportunities for change always arise and we intend to make our legitimate contribution to this necessary paradigm shift.

This is a call to action!

The Italian Position Paper -“La Mensa Bene Comune” has already already been addressed to the Italian Ministry of education and to many different stakeholders.

The international version – “Italian school canteen as a common good”

 

Author: Maurizio Mariani- Eating City Director

Advocacy campaign in favor of sustainable school canteens

Eating City has started an advocacy campaign in favor of sustainable school canteens in light of Covid-19

As part of the SAPIENS Early Stage Research project N° 15 “Bringing Sustainability to the Collective Table”, which explores sustainable public food procurement in Europe, with a focus on Italy and France, and thanks to the partner organisation Eating City, ESR Chiara Falvo had the opportunity to carry out a 2-month fieldwork at the Departmental Council of Dordogne, in France. From mid-September to mid November 2022, she collaborated closely with the Education Division, in Périgueux, to investigate their school food project and to develop future food procurement strategies.

 

Drawing on the presentation made on 25th November 2022 at the International Workshop Public Food Procurement for Schools amidst a Health and Financial Crisis, this report aims to present the main aspects of the ‘Dordogne approach’ for sustainable school meals. It will firstly provide a brief overview of school catering in France and in the Department of Dordogne, followed by an outline of the latter’s innovative school food project. Three aspects will be explored in depth: public food procurement, cost management and the ECOCERT certification mechanism. Finally, a number of strong points and future opportunities will be highlighted.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

 

Eating City is taking part in the “Buy Better Food” Campaign for sustainable and healthy school meals.

Small plate, big impact: Buy Better Food launches campaign for healthy school meals 

The Buy Better Food Campaign has initiated an EU-wide petition for ‘A healthy meal for every child in every EU School’. The aim is to invite cities and citizens to urge EU and national policy makers to implement sustainable school meals for the implementation of the EU Farm to Fork strategy.

EU child obesity rates are on the rise, with almost 1 in 3 children (29% of boys and 27% of girls) overweight or living with obesity. Diet related ill health now causes more deaths than tobacco or alcohol and accounts for 11% of the health budget in EU countries. With food at school making up more than 50% of energy intake for many pupils, good school meals and food education have been identified as key, cost effective public health measures. Peter Defranceschi, who heads the food work at ICLEI, one of the Buy Better Food Coalition members, contributed, “We are very concerned about children in our communities being left behind. Food prices are skyrocketing and the provision of food in schools is patchy – with some schools not offering a school meal at all. We demand that the EU guarantees healthy food and education for all children, in all schools, across the EU, and we are asking you to join us”.

Currently not all EU schools offer lunch, which leaves children at risk of hunger during the day. Better school food would help deliver the European Child Guarantee, announced by EU Commission president in 2019 and designed to ensure that every EU child at risk of poverty has access to their most basic rights.

In Europe, local and regional public authorities play a key role in implementing sustainable food systems, and they have the mandate to procure food or catering services (sustainable food procurement) for their institutions/bodies, such as schools, daycares, hospitals, etc.

Public food procurement constitutes a sizeable and powerful market and opportunity to invest in healthier food systems. Each year, an estimated €82 billion in public money is spent on public sector food and this could be directed to sustainable producers and help tackle the worrying climate footprint of EU diets.

The European Commission has two key opportunities over the coming months to guarantee good food for all schoolchildren. The EU Farm to Fork Strategy has aspirations to, “determine the best modalities for setting minimum mandatory criteria for sustainable food procurement to promote healthy and sustainable diets, including organic products, in schools and public institutions”. The commission also intends to “review the EU School Scheme legal framework with a view to refocus the scheme on healthy and sustainable food”. This scheme already offers financial help for fruits, vegetables and milk in schools, combined with food education activities, such as farm visits.

Defranceschi adds, ‘The European Commission told us on several occasions that the time for inspiring them with concrete ideas was now. The #SmallPlateBigImpact Petition is about school food healthy for people and planet and about social justice. Combined with food education on healthy food habits and local food culture, your support can make change happen’.

As the academic year begins for many EU schools, support the ‘A healthy school meal for every child in every EU school’ petition here.

For more information about the Buy Better Food campaign go here.

 

We are pleased to invite you to the 2nd Eating City – Food Wave Ambassador Meeting which will take place online on the 25th of March 2022.
This meeting represents the opportunity for all the Ambassadors of our community to gather together and discuss the contents of the “Eating City – Food wave Manifesto”. Every Ambassador will have the chance to share his/her own experience, to contribute to the first draft of the manifesto.

Before the final approval of the Final text of the manifesto there will an ongoing process with monthly online meetings (Zoom) on these dates:
April 27– May 25– June 29 From 17h30 to 19h00 CET

You are not an Ambassador? Don’t worry about it! You can become one by visiting our web site.
Food Wave needs you and your ideas to change the future of our cities.

Join the movement, become a change-maker.

JOIN US ONLINE!

 

We are pleased to announce the 3rd Eating City Workshop in the framework of the EU Project “Food Wave – Empowering Urban Youth for Climate Action.” inviting 50 participants aged 18-35 from European and Partners countries – working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change.

Chefs, Gastronomists, Nutritionists, Food Procurement Officers, F&B Buyers, Farmers, Fishermen, Foodies, young professional:  anyone working or studying around food and climate change issues is invited to share with us this challenging adventure.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

 

Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems

Within the Food Wave project, Eating City will be hosting the 3rd international workshop entitled “Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems: the role of women in the food system”.

The workshop will take place on  23rd & 24th of October, from 15:00-18:30 (October, 23rd) and 10:00 – 18:30 (October, 24th) CEST – online (Zoom).

Candidates who are interested in registering for the event can fill out the following Registration form

UPDATED INFORMATION:
– The full Final Call for participants including the Agenda of the Workshop
– The Preparatory Documents (which all participants must read before the Workshop)
For any questions you can contact us here at foodwave@eatingcity.org
Looking forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Maurizio Mariani

Director of Eating City

 

The challenge:

Prepare your couscous recipe, take a photo and upload it to the Cous Cous Fest website.

Get your friends to vote for you, and you could become the next Cous Cous Fest World Champion!

How to take part:

The contest is open to professional chefs who are foreign nationals (living in Italy or abroad) between 18 and 35. To take part, upload the photo of a couscous-based recipe made in a sustainable way (sweet or savoury), along with your curriculum and a description.

Each participant must accompany their recipe with the following caption: “Recipe for Food Wave Competition

 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 29 AUGUST 2021

 

April 2nd & 3rd 2021

More than 60 Youths food activists from 23 countries have been selected for this challenging workshop !

The Workshop is now ready and therefore, please find below

•          Participant’s Handbook

•          Agenda

•          Participant’s list

This workshop will be 100% on line via  ZOOM platform starting at 09h00 on April 2 and ending on April 3 at 12h30 (CET Time).

Workshop topic & objective:  Highlighting the impact that the “out-of-home food consumption” sector can provide in the fight against climate change and sharing a common declaration addressed to the presidency of COP26.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

The project is co-funded by the EU and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 28 project partners in 17 countries. The network consists of 17 cities, 4 municipal agencies and 8 civil society organizations closely linked with the cities. C40, the international network of cities engaged in the fight against climate change, is also affiliated to the project.

Lead: Municipality of Milan

Core Team: ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese

Cities and municipal agencies: Almere, Metropolitan Agency Brasov, Bruges, Frankfurt, Lisbon CLLD Network, London, Malmö, Institute Wcycle Maribor, Madrid, Groundwork Greater Manchester, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Murcia, Nea Smyrni, Pest, Turin, Sao Paolo, Sofia, Warsaw, Zagreb

Civil society organizations: European Association for Local Democracy – ALDA, ActionAid Hellas, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée – BJCEM, Erasmus Student Network Italy – ESN Italy, Risteco-Eating City.

 

 

Lead the change and participate in our call for proposals with your project idea.

The Food Wave Project – co-funded by the EU under the Development Education and Awareness Raising Programme (DEAR) and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 25 project partners in 17 countries, including ALDA – is launching its first call for proposals with the aim to finance 21 projects developed by small youth-led civil society organizations with a contribution up to 3000 euros.

What is the main objective of the call of proposal?

The project will support grass-root initiatives addressing climate-friendly food consumption behaviors developed by small youth organizations interested in the field but lacking the necessary means to do so.

Which is the thematic focus?

Each project needs to address the nexus between food and climate change!

Where can the project be implemented?

Activities must take place in one of the following EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK.

Visit the Food Wave website to have more information about the call and how to apply!

The call will be open from January 25th to February 28th.

In order to learn more about the call requirements and hear some tips to improve your application, an online informative session will take place on February 10th! Stay up to date for further details!

Follow the FoodWave Facebook and Instagram pages to stay updated

#CatchTheWave and Lead the Change!

Sincerely,

Maurizio Mariani, Director of Eating City

 FOOD WAVE WORKSHOP REPORT

The 1st Eating City Workshop in the framework of the EU Project “Food Wave – Empowering Urban Youth for Climate Action” inviting participants aged 18-35 working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change took place  on November 7 – 8 2020.

Food Wave aims to create awareness on sustainable patterns of food consumption and production for climate change mitigation, activate young people and enable them to influence institutional decisions, so they can lead us to a sustainable global food system by 2050.

The project is co-funded by the EU and promoted by the Municipality of Milan together with ActionAid Italia, ACRA, Mani Tese and 28 project partners in 17 countries. The network consists of 17 cities, 4 municipal agencies and 8 civil society organizations closely linked with the cities. C40, the international network of cities engaged in the fight against climate change, is also affiliated to the project.

———————–

Participants:

18-35 year olds working and/or studying around food sustainability and climate change, exchanged by video conference due to recent Covid19 restrictions.

Workshop topic & Objective:
Highlighting the impact that the “out-of-home food consumption” sector can provide in the fight against climate change and sharing a common declaration addressed to the presidency of COP26 in 2021.

FOOD WAVE WS AGENDA 

Foodwave Plenary Presentations:

M MARIANI Out of home food consumption

E MONGE Impact of our Food system

N ROBECCHI How Gastronomy can help

 

 Follow on Facebook and  #Catch the wave!

 

 

For several years, the Dordogne area of France has been strongly in favor of the introduction of organic and locally-sourced products in its public catering services. At the start of the 2019 school year, the Belvès school in France was the first to be certified 100% organic. Since then, the approach has developed and amplified throughout the department and a second school in Montpon-Ménestérol also obtained the “Ecocert label” for its 100% organic canteen cuisine in October 2020.

Eating City is mentioned on page 5 of the recent Presse Release (in French) of the Dordogne Departmental Council as its Director, Maurizio Mariani will accompany renowned French Chef Olivier Roellinger during his visit to the Dordogne to attend the award ceremony on Friday October 16th.

Extract of page 5 of the Dordogne Departmental Council Press release, translated into English for the EC website purposes by Corinne Stewart:

“As the patron of the “Pieds dans le plat” organization, Olivier Roellinger, the renowed French Chef with an international reputation, discovered the work undertaken in favor of organic and local products in the public catering of schools. For the presentation of the 100% organic and local label at Montpon school, he decided to make the trip in Dordogne to support this work carried out in the field. He was accompanied by Maurizio Mariani, Director of Eating City, an international program for better nutrition in public catering.
Olivier Roellinger is one of the great talents in current gastronomy. He is a pioneering cook, eloquent and militant. In 1982, he created a “table d’hôte” in his family home (a Malouinière called “Maison de Bricourt ”in Cancale) which six months later was awarded 2 toques and a score of 15 out of 20 in the Gault Millau gourmet guide. It combines local ingredients and spices, reminiscent of Saint-Malo’s link with the route to India. He obtained his first Michelin star in 1984, and the second in 1988, 19 out of 20 in the Gault and Millau guide in 1990. In 2006, he was the only Chef promoted to a third star.
With Michel Bras or Pierre Gagnaire, he became one of the great representatives of contemporary French cuisine, and a promoter of culinary mixing. On November 7, 2008, aged 53, he decided to close his 3-star restaurant. Believing that he no longer has the necessary physical condition to be behind the stoves every day, he justifies his departure for personal reasons and the wish to start “a new life”. Passionate about spices, he seeks the best quality, favoring organic crops and Fair trade.”

Eating-and-talking-in-the-square-Turin3

 

Today, more than ever, we feel the duty to say that we cannot continue to treat the school canteen as a trivial utility and food as a commodity. Enough is enough!

We have therefore decided to take action in favour of food diversity and sustainability in school canteens, against ”food Fordism” and against those companies that want to lower the quality of service in the name of food safety and other technical aspects.

Together with many Italian cities and with the Italian FoodInsider platform, we are able to show that we can do much better.

After every great crisis, great opportunities for change always arise and we intend to make our legitimate contribution to this necessary paradigm shift.

This is a call to action!

The Italian Position Paper -“La Mensa Bene Comune” has already already been addressed to the Italian Ministry of education and to many different stakeholders.

The international version – “Italian school canteen as a common good”

 

Author: Maurizio Mariani- Eating City Director