Food for Change Challenge 2018 – Truefoods story
From the 16.- 22. of October 2018 we were part of the #foodforchange challenge. Meaning..
1 week without meat, or waste or 100% local, or all of them combined.
An initiative from Slow food. For all of you who do not know who this is:
Slow food :
“Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.
Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.
Slow Food believes food is tied to many other aspects of life, including culture, politics, agriculture and the environment. Through our food choices we can collectively influence how food is cultivated, produced and distributed, and change the world as a result.” (Slow Food, 2018)
Curious? click here for more information.
Slowfoodyouthnetwork has been a major part of our time in the Netherlands and we have created tight bonds with the amazing people who are behind the green snale. Talking to them was one of the biggest inspirations to start this challenge.. but basically, it all started with our visit in Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin which was under the motto of:
“Food is a cause, victim, and — most exciting — a delicious solution to climate change.” With this action, we wanted to start a discussion and see what would be possible for us. So, we used our social media accounts to encourage our followers to try the foodforchange challenge with us.
The following are pictures we provided on our social media accounts and all the delicious food we have had within the week. Next to a lot of beautiful discussions and conversations we got so many inspiring recipes comments and pictures of the people that we could encourage to participate.
Those we also want to show on our website so maybe even more people get inspired to try the foodforchange challenge for themselves one day. We have learned so much and connected even more with everyone who follows our journey.
Simple to understand, but frightening for a lot of people. We have got quite some messages and worries. One of the biggest critics was
“ooh, this sounds nice but isn’t this form of diet only something for people who have the finantial and time capacity?”
This also made us thought, so I set down and wrote down my thoughts, which I have shared in several videos on Instagram.
Basically, I said that everyone is ging to start from different positions. The conditions will be diverse in access to food, time, money, climate etc. but due to sharing our experience, we can inspire and encourage people from all different kinds of backgrounds. We represented the “students” who live in a rather conventional area with Mediterranean climate, who don’t necessarily have a lot of access to plastic-free food and expensive prices for local products. Still, we have managed.
In the end, it was all about starting the discussion and explain to our followers that they/YOU as the consumers have the power to change the food system. The system works only after your demand and it is time to realize this.
To support we shared tips like:
We also managed to encourage some of our fellow students to participate. So in the night before the first day of the challenge, I went to the supermarket with Suzan and made my first groceries of the foodforchange challenge.
We tried to commit to all criteria.
The first morning we didn’t really have had time to have breakfast. We have been on a field visit for dairy production and had a breakfast in between. Moritz brought homemade cookies from his roommate granny who has a farm as well. So the first Breakfast was easier than expected.
The first Lunch was very basic as well. I wanted to show you authentically what we eat. It was nothing special but still super delicious.
Meanwhile, you guys have sent us your first creations. We got a lot of messages and the responds on the first two days were overwhelming.
Day 1 was a long day of school and I was really unmotivated to cook, so an easy and fast dish for dinner. I was lucky to live in Italy were pasta and tomato sauce are even locally produced within Emilia-Romagna where I live.
With a big smile, I fell into my bed, getting really excited to see what would happen the next days.
The day started with a super simple Breakfast: nuts and seasonal, local fruit.
What motivated me this day was the fact that people with whom I haven’t had a contact for a while started sending us pictures and messages.
Lunch and dinner for me ??
Pasta and vegetable sauce. Nothing special and super quick in between, so no photos.
Our day continued with our journey to La Fattoria la Vialla.
For the night we stopped at the sea, having pasta which we still had on the bus. Super simple.
Breakfast in Olli. We always have quite a stock of food in Olli, so we are able to jump into the beloved bus and just start driving at any time. Of course, we used what we still had in there.
We arrived at La Fattoria la Vialla at lunchtime and set down to this table right away.
All locally produced at their property. You basically cant get food that is more local than this. !
Our days at the Fattoria were shaped by having conversations and tours on their farm and discussions about local biodynamic food productions.
We had a breakfast buffet and wow- we were having at least 5 plates of the buffet together!
Of course in the afternoon we had something to drink, all locally produced and processed.
A small starter before the big menu!
Meanwhile, we got so many messages from our followers. We had incredible conversations at the table about sustainable food systems and were completely high on life.
Especially this post “knocked me off my socks”, like we would say in Germany. Michelle, a follower on Instagram created truffle chips with potato peels to reduce her food waste!
DINNER FOR US: Pasta with sauce and some green leave salad. We were so full and instantly fell in bed.
The day started with a beautiful breakfast with 100% products from the farm. We took the time and enjoyed every bite of it, until we almost came too late to our appointment.
For Lunch, we had a salate me with all different kinds of veggies, a cheese plate, and pestos.
In the evening we enjoyed tagliatelle made from spelt and a rosemary tomato sauce also 100% local from the farm. We were SPOILED.
Waking up in Olli, taking out the bread that already was getting hard, we decided to make a left-over breakfast.
Olive oil in a pan, cut the bread, into the pan, waiting 2 minutes, turning the bread, cheese, and apples on top- done.
For Lunch, we got invited by amazing people that we have met on the farm. they went to the next village to get some local products to serve for lunch.
This picture was from my grandma who also got to know that I we were doing this challenge. All you can see is from her garden or her neighbors. She got minced meat from an organic farmer nearby and send it to me to “share it with the world”.
Back at home, we celebrated that Moritz’s mom was visiting. We went to our favorite pizzeria who use local products. WE ate it ALL, so no waste 😉
To be honest? I didn’t had breakfast that day. Moritz just brought me some fruits and that was it for the morning.
WE again had pasta (oh my god we have had too much pasta this week) for lunch.
Knowing it was too little, but completely ready to make a small “detox” I just had a fresh local salad to close the week of #foodforchange . Keep it real and simple.
Thank you for everyone who participated, send us pictures and messages, inspired us, was curious and asked and simply showed interest.
Together we can make a change!
Looking forward to doing the next challenge, connecting with everyone was the most fun part of all and that is what it all was about!
Claire & Moritz
