Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Happy Easter! Ok, this might only be food policy in the most removed sense, but I discovered shocking news the other day, and it is extremely topical today: Did you know that chocolate surprise eggs (such as the ones produced by Kinder) are outlawed in the United States? Apparently, the sale and import of the … Continue reading The Legality of Kinder Surprise Eggs…
In my Sustainability Economics class, we also talked about sustainable food choices (one of my favorite topics!) and the nuts and bolts of doing a Life Cycle Analysis of a particular product or diet “from cradle to grave”. Life Cycle Analyses try to assess the environmental impacts of certain behavior, for example the consumption of … Continue reading Can the Mediterranean Diet Save the Planet?
Yesterday, a New York State Supreme Court Judge struck down the first attempt in the U.S. to fight against obesity by legally regulating portion sizes. A day before a law was due to take effect that would limit the allowed size of sugary drinks sold in restaurants, food courts and movie theatres to 16 ounces, … Continue reading New York's Soda Ban Overruled – Defeat of the "Nanny State" or Public Health Setback?
You know that day before you go on an extended vacation and stand in front of a half-full fridge due to poor planning, heave a heavy sigh and take out the garbage bag? Well, if you were living in Cologne, Koblenz or Berlin, instead you would log onto foodsharing.de, would create a food basket with … Continue reading Foodsharing – Reducing Food Waste the German Way
Last time I was talking about Labeling Fables I floated the idea of unveiling some of the most prominent labels so you know what you are buying in the grocery store. Well, here is installment #1: Starting with one of the most famous labels around: Fairtrade. Chances are, you know it stands for fair trade … Continue reading Labels Unveiled: Fairtrade
“The Pleasures of Eating” is a powerful, poetic essay by Wendell Berry. Published in 1990, – 23 years ago! – it is more relevant than ever in today’s society, and so well written that I would just encourage everybody to head on over and read it. Since it’s a little long, I’ll sketch out some … Continue reading The Pleasures of Eating
Yesterday I went to a really inspiring event put on by the GIZ under the topic of “Gender, Climate Change and Food Security”, which highlighted different aspects of how gender (in)equality can be highlighted in climate change negotiations and how women are affected by the challenges of adapting rural self-sufficient farming communities to the future … Continue reading A Genius Idea for Gender, Climate Change Resilience and Food Security
As the Coursera course “Introduction to the U.S. Food System” draws to a close (so sad, it was great!), the staff highlighted a great initiative in their last set of lectures – the story behind Meatless Monday!
This Al Jazeera opinion piece by UN University research associate Kei Otsuki draws a compelling picture about how Brazil has established itself as a role model in becoming one of the first (so-called) developing countries to create a sustainable and local food procurement system for its schools. In doing so, it has met four internationally-set … Continue reading The Path to Local Food in Brazil's Schools
In preparation for my exam on Ethics in Food Consumption, I read a fascinating expose by New York-based marketing firm BBMG which characterize a ‘new consumer’ (download it here). While their report is mainly aimed at firms who want to market their products to these new consumers, it is really enlightening to explore what they … Continue reading Are You A 'New Consumer'?