Shaping the way we eat

The Slow Food move­ment, initi­ally envi­sa­ged as a coun­ter­point to fast food, arri­ved in Switz­er­land shortly before the start of the new mill­en­nium, a time when farmers were begin­ning to market their produce directly, artis­a­nal food produc­tion was brin­ging regio­nal specia­li­ties to our shops, inno­va­tive restau­ra­teurs were redis­co­ve­ring the culinary heri­tage of the Alps and Swiss Taste Week was laun­ched. Over time, raising aware­ness of healthy dietary beha­viours has had a posi­tive impact on the future of the food system.

Urban food poli­cies take off

The gene­ral public’s aware­ness of sustainable and healthy eating has risen shar­ply in recent years. When shop­ping, more and more people are looking for food that is regio­nal, sustainable, healthy and fair trade. A supply of healthy, sustain­ably produ­ced food is a basic neces­sity but – unlike other basic neces­si­ties such as housing – it has not, histo­ri­cally, been seen as part of the urban mandate, and its gover­nance has been left to higher poli­ti­cal eche­lons and ‘the market’. Since the early 2000s, howe­ver, more and more cities have been ques­tio­ning the current food system. Civil society has also been working with local busi­nesses and educa­tio­nal insti­tu­ti­ons to improve our day-to-day eating habits.

Char­ter for an urban food policy

Ever since the ‘Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP)’ of 2015 and the Glas­gow Food and Climate Decla­ra­tion at the 26th UN Climate Summit in 2021, the concept of an urban food policy has been high on everyone’s agenda – inclu­ding in Switz­er­land, where 85 per cent of the popu­la­tion lives in towns and cities. Cities and local autho­ri­ties can make a huge diffe­rence by intro­du­cing targe­ted stra­te­gies and measu­res to make their food systems more sustainable, ensu­ring healthy and sustainable food is served in their schools, hospi­tals, care centres and staff restau­rants and impro­ving nutri­tio­nal aware­ness at local level. 

The rese­arch project ‘Cities as drivers of sustainable food systems’, a joint project run by the Centre for Deve­lo­p­ment and Envi­ron­ment (CDE) at the Univer­sity of Bern in colla­bo­ra­tion with BFH’s School of Agri­cul­tu­ral, Forest and Food Scien­ces (BFH-HAFL), exami­ned the food gover­nance stra­te­gies employed by the cities of Basel, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, St. Gallen, Winter­thur and Zurich and is evalua­ting the impact and importance of ongo­ing measu­res. The Union of Swiss Cities (SSV) is also invol­ved in this project. In a few weeks, the Union will be laun­ching the ‘Char­ter for Sustainable Food in Swiss Cities and Towns’, outlining the goals and remit of urban food policy. The Swiss Network of Taste Cities and the Fonda­tion pour la Promo­tion du Goût’s Taste Academy are to play an active role in its implementation.

Food forum as a plat­form for urban food policy

When it comes to desig­ning and imple­men­ting urban food policy, appro­priate colla­bo­ra­ti­ons with asso­cia­ti­ons, busi­nesses, educa­tio­nal insti­tu­ti­ons and civil society play a key role at local level. In Basel, Bern and Zurich, colla­bo­ra­ti­ons of this kind are orga­nised as food forums. Food forums bring toge­ther public and private-sector stake­hol­ders at local or regio­nal level, all of them looking for a fair, viable and inno­va­tive food system and commit­ted to good, sustainable food. Special skills and plen­ti­ful resour­ces are requi­red to set up food forums like this and to mode­rate plat­form acti­vi­ties, which include analy­sing systems, iden­ti­fy­ing posi­tive tipping points for system change and deve­lo­ping targe­ted actions based on these. The forums also need to be legi­ti­mi­sed by an agree­ment with the local autho­rity or canton. Nowhere in Switz­er­land satis­fac­to­rily meets these prere­qui­si­tes at present. 

A need for joint deve­lo­p­ment work

The exis­ting food forums will ther­e­fore take on an infor­ma­tio­nal and educa­tio­nal role over the next few years and share their know­ledge with any parties who are inte­res­ted in setting up and opera­ting urban food policy plat­forms in diffe­rent cities and towns. Coope­ra­tion with the Union of Swiss Cities (SSV), the Network of Taste Cities and the Fonda­tion pour la Promo­tion du Goût’s Taste Academy is envi­sa­ged here, as well as with univer­si­ties that are rese­ar­ching urban food policy in Switz­er­land and other count­ries. There is a great need for joint deve­lo­p­ment work in this area of policy and prac­tice as well as for support from foun­da­ti­ons that see them­sel­ves as agents of change within the food system.