By Vincenzo Velletri

Now that the weather is cold we tend to spend more time indoor; sitting in front of the fireplace with a glass of wine makes you reflect more on different issues and events of the past years.

I have been reflecting on our Slow Food philosophy of good, clean and fair food for all and this makes me think that “for all” is addressing a social injustice as we saw that producing good and clean food is an expensive practice that reflects on the price that the consumer has to pay and that not everybody can afford.

It comes to my mind that the producers that are organic and biodynamic have to pay extra money to have their food certified while the conventionally grown food doesn’t need that.

It is also true that good, clean and fair food brings down the production per hectare of land between 8 – 25% and it will be important to understand how we can cover this gap.

Producing less food but of better quality, with less impact on the environment, and reducing food waste, which accounts for about 30% of the food that is currently being produced, are some ways we can cover this gap.

As highlighted in a study published in the Lancet, promoting healthy diets and sustainable food production practices we would still have enough food to sustain the world population. It would also decrease the number of deaths related to eating disorders by 20%, which accounts for around 11 million people.

I understand that there is more to it than just that but what can we do as consumers to make our food system fair for all? Changing our food habits, taking action to reduce food waste at home, using our buying power to support and encourage farmers to produce food using more sustainable practices, are just some of the steps that we can all take towards that.