Slow Food Goes Brussels

May 2024

How are EU elections affecting green ambitions in food policy?

March 2024

Farmers protests: what are they really about?

December 2023

2023 Policy Highlights and Upcoming EU Parliament Elections

November 2023

What can we expect from COP28? A conversation with Raj Patel and Edward Mukiibi

November 2023

How Can We Recognise Greenwashing and Corporate Farming?

September 2023

GMOs and Pesticides, A Chemical Romance

July 2023

The Urban Food Revolution

Cities are at the forefront of one of the most pressing problems of our times — food. According to the United Nations (UN), 54% of the world’s population were living in urban areas in 2016 — and that figure is predicted to rise to 66% by 2050.  For this episode, we take you on a journey to three pioneering cities: Bordeaux (France), Birmingham (England) and Groningen (The Netherlands). You will discover how they’re acting, in collaboration with local people and food stakeholders to limit food systems’ impact on climate and the environment, improve people’s wellbeing, shorten, and strengthen production chains, and guarantee access to good food for all.

Our guests are:

• Yael Pantzer, policy officer specialized in urban food policies at Slow Food
• Kate Smith, volunteer at Slow Food Birmingham
• Apolline Beyris-Duvigneau, food officer for the municipality of Bordeaux
• Hilde Lavell and Hiltje van der Wal, food officers for the municipality of Groningen

Also available on Apple Podcast.

June 2023

Breaking the Chain of Food Poverty

Enough food is produced worldwide to feed 10 billion people, yet hunger is on the rise. While vulnerable populations from the Global North cannot afford healthy and nourishing food, a growing number of people from the Global South must battle every day to simply get access to food. The current food system leaves many behind, putting profit before people. But such injustice is not irreversible: political leaders, from any level, must commit to reshaping our food system and giving it back its true purpose: nourishing everyone. Why is there food poverty and with what consequences? Who suffers from food poverty? What should the political answer be to help fight against it? You’ll learn all about in this episode, where we take you on a journey across the world, from the Global South to the Global North, with our guests:

• Nicole Pita, project manager at the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)
• Alba Gil, policy officer at the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
• Samanta Vergati, environmental economist, member of the Slow Food community in Paris, and founder of the NGO “Altrimenti”

Also available on Apple Podcast.

December 2022

The Political Power of Food, with Marta Messa

In June 2022, Slow Food elected a young and inspiring woman as Secretary General: Marta Messa. As Marta is also director of Slow Food Europe, we asked her our many questions about the political power of food in the world and about the upcoming opportunities to achieve a good, clean, and fair food policy in Europe. How can we save the world through food? Why is food so political? Is Europe on track to transition to sustainable food systems or are we going backwards? But also… what is Marta’s favorite winter dish? Tune in to find out!

Useful links mentioned in the podcast:
– Book: “Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, From Sustainable to Suicidal”: https://markbittman.com/avj
– Book: “Oryx and Crake”: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46756.Oryx_and_Crake
– Podcast: “The Daily” by the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily

Also available on Apple Podcast.

December 2022

Busting the Myths About Food Waste

1/3 of the food produced worldwide is either wasted or lost, which means it never ends up where it is supposed to : on our plates. Why is this a problem?  Well, it costs countries millions of euros in lost revenue, causes unnecessary stress on the food chain, and harms the environment by contributing to global warming and climate change. Many myths have been circulating about what causes food waste and who produces more of it. You’ll learn all about it in this episode, and of course, about what’s up in the European Union to help address food waste, because there is no fun without a tad of food policy.

Our guests are:

• Anne-Luz Pijnenburg, member of the Slow Food Youth Network in Amsterdam
• Martin Bowman, food waste campaigner at Feedback
• Tom Václavík, coordinator of Slow Food Brno in Czech Republic

Also available on Apple Podcast.

October 2022

Reconciling Food and Health

Food and health are intimately connected. But while the impact of the overconsumption of ultra-processed food on our body is well known by all of us, other negative phenomena directly linked to the production of food are not. Although they endanger human health, but also that of the planet.

During Slow Food’s international event on sustainable food systems, Terra Madre, that took place last September in Turin, Alice Poiron interviewed three remarkable speakers to shed light on the complex relationship between food and health, and on which policy solutions exist to reconcile them, in a world where industrial, polluting farming is the norm, not the exception. Our guests in this episode:

• Nikolai Pushkarev, Senior policy officer at European Public Health Alliance
• Corinna Hawkes, Director of the Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London
• Nina Wolff: Director of Slow Food Germany and board member of Slow Food International

Also available on Apple Podcast.

July 2022

The Global Food Crisis Explained

Since the war in Ukraine broke out, the words “food security” and “food crisis” are on everyone’s lips. The conflict has had rippling effects on millions of people’s lives, with President Putin holding the specter of hunger over their head. Ukraine and Russia being such big producers and exporters of grain, elsewhere concerns are indeed mounting over potential food shortages. Meanwhile, the conflict has sent global food prices skyrocketing, which are hitting the poorest populations the hardest.

To cope with this crisis, some in Europe have suggested to lower environmental standards in agriculture in favour of increasing food production. Others like Slow Food, warn that this is a mistake, because environmental protection is key to ensure sustainable food security in the long run.

We hear many things about this food crisis, and this is a complex topic to grasp. How does it impact Europe and the world? How can we feed the world without the Ukrainian crops? Do we really need to produce more food while other farming alternatives are just waiting to be scaled up? We take a step back and untangle these complex issues with our guests:

• Nick Jacobs, director of IPES Food (the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems)
• Nathalie Bolduc, researcher at IDDRI (Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations)
• David Peacock, Slow Food farmer in Germany

Also available on Apple Podcast.

June 2022

The Paradoxes of Animal Welfare in Europe

The protection of animal welfare on farms has gained momentum in recent years in Europe, with more and more EU citizens calling for the end of their cruel exploitation. And this is with good reason, for farm animals are considered as mere profit machines.

Yet, it is said that the European Union has the most advanced legislation in the world regarding animal welfare standards. So why such a gap between the European law and farming practices on the ground? How bad is the state of animal welfare in Europe, and what is being done at the EU level to right such wrongs? Also, what alternatives are there to industrial animal farming? In this episode, we tell you the story of the many paradoxes of animal welfare in Europe with our guests:

• Jacopo Goracci, farmer of local ancient breeds of cows and pigs in rural Tuscany (Italy) and coordinator of a Slow Food presidium
• Andrea Gavinelli, who is in charge of the animal welfare unit at the EU Commission
• Olga Kikou, European Affairs Manager at the organization Compassion in World Farming

Also available on Apple Podcast.

December 2021

A Conversation with Young Food Activists

Mid-December, members of the Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) in Europe and students at the Slow Food’s University of Gastronomic Science (UNISG) gathered in Bra, in northern Italy. It was a great opportunity for us to sit down with a few of them and discuss about their views on political activism, their desire to see a sustainable food system happening in Europe and beyond, and their relationship to the European Union.

• Jorrit, president of SFYN
• Mallory, American student at the Slow Food’s University of Gastronomic Science (UNISG)
• Paolo, member of SFYN in Sardegna
• Lianne, president of SFYN Netherlands

Also available on Apple Podcast.

November 2021

COP26: What’s on the Menu for Food and Farming?

Let’s talk about climate! Now that the COP26 is behind us and that dust has settled, let’s take a step back! Was the COP26 a success? What was decided about food and farming? Where does the EU stand in all this, and what is the EU’s way forward on climate change ? We answer all these questions with our three guests:

• Shane Holland, executive director of Slow Food in the UK
• Chantal Clément, Deputy Director of IPES-Food (the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems)
• Tim Mc Phie, European Commission Spokesperson for Climate Action and Energy

Also available on Apple Podcast.

October 2021

EU Farm to Fork Strategy: Science, Civil Society and the Planet over Corporate Interests.

In this episode, our guests talk about the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and what has happened since its publication in May 2020. They shed light on the intense lobbying that the agro-chemical industry has been doing to try to weaken the Strategy, and how you, as European citizens, can influence food policy; one example being the recently-successful European Citizens Initiative “Save bees and farmers”. This episode’s speakers:

• Nina Holland, researcher at Corporate Europe Observatory
• Martin Dermine, policy officer at PAN Europe
• Tilly Metz, Member of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance at the European Parliament

Also available on Apple Podcast.

May 2021

What’s Going on with New GMOs?

What are new GMOs? How do they differ from old GMOs? What are the EU latest developments on the matter? We asked three experts to answer these questions and many more:

• Elisa D’Aloisio, peasant farmer at the European Coordination Via Campesina with a PhD in genetics and practical expertise in GMOs
• Martin Sommer, policy coordinator at IFOAM Organics Europe, the association for organic food and farming in Europe
• Madeleine Coste, Policy Officer at Slow Food Europe