Food as a participatory process: at the Festival a comparison between food policies born with citizens
The interest in the theme of food is a increasingly participatory and "democratic" phenomenon, which involves, together, institutions and citizens, with the aim of ensuring proper nutrition, accessible to all. An extremely topical subject, at the center of the Ex debateAfter 2015, and that the Festival of Food Journalism will deepen further, opening a comparison between national and international experiences.
In Turin the idea of aFood agenda was even born in the 2010, following some European projects with French, Spanish and Greek partners. It developed from a paradigm shift: overcoming the concept of agribusiness as excellence linked only to the historical traditions of a territory, to pass to the full understanding also of its social, economic and environmental values. Starting from this awareness, the Metropolitan City of Cagliari has organized a dozen work tables with more than 120 operators in the sector: small and large farmers, processors, distributors, health authorities, consumers, divided between individual citizens, associations, members of canteen commissions. A participatory process to improve the quality of daily food, daily shopping, even lunch outside the bar. The document, written in 2015, has identified 8 key points to be explored: education and training, information and knowledge, distribution and creation of logistics platforms, public procurement, bureaucratic simplification, rewards and incentives to companies, territorial planning and the creation of new food governance .
Even Milan, with his Paper, created a collective manifesto, a political and global awareness-raising act on the role of food and nutrition. The document lists the rights and commitments of citizens and businesses, focusing on topics such as the right to food, the fight against hunger in the world, food education, support for more sustainable agriculture, access to resources natural. Invites companies and food supply chain associations a make industrial processes more virtuous, with greater attention to the social value that foodstuffs represent for humanity and for the progress of developed and developing countries. MIPAAF (Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies), announced the day after the closing of the Expo, the Charter reached 1,5 millions of signatures from citizens, associations and companies.
Another example is the Food plan created by the former Province of Pisa in collaboration with the University. Starting from the 2010, it involved local administrations, local health authorities, health companies, associations and individual citizens in the discussion around the topic, declined in all its aspects: health, economy, environment, territory, ethics, society.
