WWF’s Global Action Platform on Sustainable Consumption and Diets, which is part of Future Forward Together, and organised in partnership with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), The Rockefeller Foundation, EAT, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, One Earth, Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), WWF’s Eat4Change EU DEAR Programme, and Nourish Scotland convened 110 key stakeholders working on food system transformation during Cop-26 in Glasgow, by organizing the first COP #Eat4Change dinner side-event on the 8th of November 2021.
The dinner brought together national level stakeholders, non-state actors, civil society groups, the youth, indigenous groups, media and other key partners attending Cop-26 to celebrate the power of food to transform people and planet – to Eat4Change. The dinner event was a great opportunity to build relations and amplify the work being done by people around the world.
Our main purpose with the dinner was to break silos, bring together actors that don’t normally work together, enable stakeholders in food system transformation to collaborate and work together to raise the agenda of food in multilateral processes. Working together with the different partners for the event showcased the power of collaboration and coming together to work towards a common goal and agenda.
© WWF-Germany
Chef Doug Lindsay from Ubiquitous Chip, the restaurant in Glasgow where the #Eat4Change dinner side event was hosted, did a fantastic job in translating our requirements for food and drinks, to produce an unforgettable planet friendly dinner that was healthy, sustainably produced and sourced.
The dinner menu was designed to highlight avoiding food waste by utilizing the entire produce, using rare, underutilised crops to showcase biodiversity, plant-forward eating, sustainable production practices, locally grown with short supply chains and seasonal produce.
The evening kicked off with a welcome toast to set the agenda for the event by Joao Campari, WWF. Special to this evening were the table discussions which were enabled by the youth putting forward questions to those gathered. Lova Eveborn from E4C Youth, Mohamed Eissa from the International Federation of Medical Students, and Carson Kiburo from the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus put forth important questions to the audience. A book of commitments for future generations was also passed around for stakeholders to make written commitments.
© WWF-Germany
One of our guests summarized the evening beautifully “Thank you for a wonderful evening, for a meal that was curated as art, for a run-of-show that got everyone talking, and for a table configuration that helped to bridge some deep divides.
Our cooperation partner FoodTank regularly publishes articles from the Global Action Platform on Sustainable Consumption and Diets. The most recent blogpost Breaking Down Silos and Amplifying Young Voices at Eat4Change summarizes the event with quotes from participants.
“What’s so powerful about food systems change is one intervention can unlock exponential progress across a whole range of ambitions”
© WWF-Germany
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