A gap between politics and the food community, journalists can fill it
There is a gap between food policy and community. The posting must be filled by journalists and communicators, for their part. Those who deal with food urban policies must make the message to be disclosed understandable. This is what emerged during the panel "If the city discusses food: the experience of metropolitan diaries".
The importance of a "healthy, good and fair" diet, as the speakers have said, is the subject of some international efforts.
From New York to Shanghai, via London and Rio de Janeiro, 119 capital centers around the world have signed a pact to promote serious public policies in this area. In Italy, Milan and Turin are the forerunners of the 'urban food policy'. "By involving the various actors that are part of the food supply chain, from producers to farmers to those who manage canteens - explained Franca Roiatti, head of Urban Food Policy of the Municipality of Milan - we wrote a report in which we identified six main areas : governance, food production and distribution, access to water, but also waste and social and economic justice ".
Elena Di Bella of the Metropolitan City of Turin has denounced the difficulty of communicating to citizens the policies that the administration is carrying out, "on the one hand, we ourselves have difficulty informing citizens, on the other the responsibility is also of the media, that linked to interest in news to sell more copies, they often do not deal with this subject because they consider it uninteresting. I here today launch an appeal for a solid partnership between local authorities and the media, because food policies must be communicated and must be done well ". Finally, Di Bella emphasized that even non-specialized media should be trained to provide more adequate information that does not only concern newspapers but also blogs.
And among the initiatives undertaken by the Municipality, within the project "Food Smart Cities For Development", Maria Bottiglieri, responsible for the activities of the International Cooperation and Peace Sector of the City of Turin pointed out that there was a resolution of the council which has proposed to the Council to include in the Statute the right to food on the same level as the right to water "We have involved the districts to get an opinion on this proposal and 9 on 10 have responded positively to our requests" concluded Bottiglieri.
Vatinee Suvimol, iFood's blogger, recalled how often communication comes from below, like small blogs, which often have a deeper knowledge of the topic. Universities can also play an important role by networking, something that has already been started with the Food Atlas, as explained by Egidio Dansero, Professor of Political and Economic Geography of the Department of Cultures, Policies and Society, “A way to put together knowledge in the food field, created together with the Polytechnic and the University of Pollenzo, to insist on sustainability and access to good and clean food for all ".
di Gianluca Palma e Azzurra Giorgi (Futura)
