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.