Reshaping the food system

"Start with kids – school meals are a great way to form healthy and sustainable habits early on." That's what The Guardian wrote on Tuesday about the need for changing the global food system.

At Vinnova we have also highlighted this. This spring we gathered a number of actors to gain a broader understanding of the food system and to propose measures to transform it in a climate-friendly direction. One of the proposed measures was specificially about school meals.

The initiative, which has been named "A new recipe for school meals", is part of our development journey towards a mission-oriented approach.

Why school meals when there are so many major challenges? Well, because school meals form a small part of a larger system, but it's an important part, where all the system's common challenges become clear. We believe that if we can make a difference there, we can make difference in other areas as well.

We want to create a sustainable system around school meals, from teaching about food, food production as well as food logistics, food waste and the food experience itself, to using the school kitchen's resources more extensively and creating new conditions for the farmers to produce sustainable food.

Last Wednesday, representatives from business, academia and public gathered together with the idea-driven sector for a workshop. The purpose was to describe as specifically as possible what the initiative "A new recipe for school meals" should contain, who should do what and how we can all work together to make this happen.

Now we are in the process of analysing all the wise proposals that emerged from the workshop. Together with the participating actors, we will decide what the next step will be. For updates further on, follow the Mission blog!

Text: Jenny Sjöblom and Joanna Franzén

Read the full article "What we eat matters" in The Guardian