World Food Day
LET'S INVEST IN A CULTURE OF VALUE AND WORK TOGETHER TO GROW, NOURISH AND SUSTAIN A JUST FOOD SYSTEM WHEREBY ALL CAN THRIVE.
Every Day has to be World Food Day
The future of food is in our hands
Did you know...
More than 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet,
About 2 million people are overweight or obese due to a poor diet,
The world's agri-food system currently employs 1 billion people,
The world's food systems are currently responsible for more than 33% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions,
14% of the world's food is lost due to inadequate harvesting, handling, storage, and transit, and 17% is wasted at the consumer level?
The future of food is in our hand.
Let's Take Action for Better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.
World Food Day, Every Day Calendar
by Food for Soul & Refettorio projects from around the world
We have filled this annual Food Day calendar with monthly tips and resources to keep your kitchens sustainable and help us save food from waste. Looking ahead we will be populating the calendar with fun facts and global days you can take action. Browse the calendar and follow our main events live!
World Food Day 2020
“I really hope we will soon be able to implement a system that enhances relationships, respectful of the processes, of the individual products and, above all, of the people. The act of cooking as well as that of feeding oneself must become an ethical choice, not just of taste. Let’s start asking us where our food comes from, what its past is, but also how we see its future. It’s important to be resourceful with ingredients, not be wasteful, to have respect for the food that we prepare but also the food we eat daily. When we change this mindset, we can get the most out of the energy and resources that go into producing our food system. We can invite innovation and processes that are not only ethical but healthy and equitable for people and the planet.”
Massimo Bottura
Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together.
Our actions are our future.
#FoodHeroes
Our food system depends on each of us.
This World Food Day, join the global movement to create a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system for all. Take action wherever you can - at home, work, school or in your community - to raise awareness, share ideas and empower others to understand the value and interconnectedness of our food system.
We have the greatest opportunity to transform these challenges into opportunities that will offer a new set of sustainable practices and holistic networks. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals provide us with a set of unified goals to achieve, full of actions to eradicate poverty, hunger, isolation and inequality.
THIS WORLD FOOD DAY LET'S INVEST IN A CULTURE OF VALUE AND WORK TOGETHER TO GROW, NOURISH AND SUSTAIN A JUST FOOD SYSTEM WHEREBY ALL CAN THRIVE.
Kitchen Memories
To celebrate and raise awareness, our partner UNEP will be looking for your
inspiring Kitchen Memories to share on social media that can help get others
to take action and make better choices for our environment and food system.
By sharing "Kitchen Memories" from our Family and our Refettorios we invite people to share memories, tips and ideas from their kitchen that help promote and take actions of sustainability for the health of the planet and well-being of people.
THINK. Wasting food is often a subconscious act. You might think it's not something you do, but check out these facts and you'll realise there's so much food going to waste, some of it might actually be coming from you!
EAT. Take inspiration from our recipes, follow the tips from our chefs and share your kitchen memories with us.
SAVE. Help us achieve SDG's Goal #12.3, commit to an Act of Change and Love for people and the planet and inspire others around you to do the same!
Think. Eat. Save.
Think.Eat.Save, is a partnership between UNEP and FAO contributing to the Sustainable Food Systems Programme of the One Planet Network, to raise awareness of global and local food waste and how to reduce its impact.
We hope to be a place of inspiration, where you can Learn, Share, and Act, starting in the kitchen - cooking with love, for people and the planet.
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What is Biodiversity?Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi. Healthy ecosystems, rich with biodiversity, are fundamental to human existence.Ecosystems sustain human life in a myriad of ways, cleaning our air, purifying our water, ensuring the availability of nutritious foods, nature-based medicines and raw materials, and reducing the occurrence of disasters. While Earth’s biodiversity is so rich that many species have yet to be discovered, many species are being threatened with extinction due to human activities, putting the Earth’s magnificent biodiversity at risk. Read More Biodiversity for food and agriculture (BFA) is, in turn, the subset of biodiversity - that contributes in one way or another to agriculture and food production. It includes the domesticated plants and animals that are part of crop, livestock, forest or aquaculture systems, harvested forest and aquatic species, the wild relatives of domesticated species, and other wild species harvested for food and other products. FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Download the Full Report
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Why is Biodiversity important?Biodiversity is important to most aspects of our human lives providing food, fuel, shelter, and medicine. It also offers spiritual, religious and cultural value offering deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of earth. Biodiversity also plays a fundamental role sustaining our ecosystems by providing crucial services such as pollination, seed dispersal, climate regulation, water purification, nutrient cycling, and control of agricultural pests. While we still have much to learn about the benefits of biodiversity, humans continue to put extensive pressure on nature through overproduction, deforestation, plastic pollution and greenhouse emissions. Read More
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How does food waste harm biodiversity?About 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year—four times the amount needed to feed the more than 800+ million people who are malnourished. It’s time to reconsider food. Around the globe, food production, distribution, management and waste threaten wildlife, wild places and the planet itself. Today, 7.3 billion people consume 1.6 times what the earth’s natural resources can supply. By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion and the demand for food will double. So how do we produce more food for more people without expanding the land and water already in use? We can’t double the amount of food. Fortunately we don’t have to, we have to double the amount of food available instead. In short, we must freeze the footprint of food. Read More Watch - To Change the Way You Think About Food!
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How can we ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns?Worldwide material consumption has expanded rapidly, as has material footprint per capita, seriously jeopardizing the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 12 and the Goals more broadly. Urgent action is needed to ensure that current material needs do not lead to the overextraction of resources or to the degradation of environmental resources, and should include policies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and mainstream sustainability practices across all sectors of the economy. Read more.
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How is food waste linked to zoonotic diseases like COVID-19?It may not seem obvious, but the issue of food waste is linked to zoonotic diseases—meaning diseases that jump from animal to human—such as COVID-19. Agriculture is a major driver of human expansion into natural ecosystems, which, as the head of the United Nations Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, explained in a recent interview with The Guardian, can mean trouble. “Our continued erosion of wild spaces, of our primary forests and our ecosystems, have brought us uncomfortably close to reservoir hosts—animals and plants that harbour diseases that can jump to humans,” she says. “As we continue our relentless move into natural habitats, contact between humans and reservoir hosts increases—all of which increases the likelihood of interaction between vectors and humans.” Learn more.
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Why are bees important?Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities. Pollination is a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity. To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day. The goal is to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries. Watch the video and BEE ENGAGED We all depend on pollinators and it is, therefore, crucial to monitor their decline and halt the loss of biodiversity. Learn More
1. Think
2. Eat.
Kitchen Memories from our Refettorios
Here are some examples of tips and recipes from our Refettorios:
Kitchen Memory from
Fresh Ideas for using up stale bread
By Grundig Respect Food
At Respect Food, we are all about saving food to save the planet. We are particularly obsessed with making the most from the humble loaf.
3. Save.
Action 1 - TAKE ACTION
Explore what tips and tricks you can incorporate into your daily kitchen routine. Read the "Sustainable Tips in the Kitchen: a better future starts at home" in collaboration with
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What is Biodiversity?Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi. Healthy ecosystems, rich with biodiversity, are fundamental to human existence.Ecosystems sustain human life in a myriad of ways, cleaning our air, purifying our water, ensuring the availability of nutritious foods, nature-based medicines and raw materials, and reducing the occurrence of disasters. While Earth’s biodiversity is so rich that many species have yet to be discovered, many species are being threatened with extinction due to human activities, putting the Earth’s magnificent biodiversity at risk. Read More Biodiversity for food and agriculture (BFA) is, in turn, the subset of biodiversity - that contributes in one way or another to agriculture and food production. It includes the domesticated plants and animals that are part of crop, livestock, forest or aquaculture systems, harvested forest and aquatic species, the wild relatives of domesticated species, and other wild species harvested for food and other products. FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Download the Full Report
-
Why is Biodiversity important?Biodiversity is important to most aspects of our human lives providing food, fuel, shelter, and medicine. It also offers spiritual, religious and cultural value offering deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of earth. Biodiversity also plays a fundamental role sustaining our ecosystems by providing crucial services such as pollination, seed dispersal, climate regulation, water purification, nutrient cycling, and control of agricultural pests. While we still have much to learn about the benefits of biodiversity, humans continue to put extensive pressure on nature through overproduction, deforestation, plastic pollution and greenhouse emissions. Read More
-
How does food waste harm biodiversity?About 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year—four times the amount needed to feed the more than 800+ million people who are malnourished. It’s time to reconsider food. Around the globe, food production, distribution, management and waste threaten wildlife, wild places and the planet itself. Today, 7.3 billion people consume 1.6 times what the earth’s natural resources can supply. By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion and the demand for food will double. So how do we produce more food for more people without expanding the land and water already in use? We can’t double the amount of food. Fortunately we don’t have to, we have to double the amount of food available instead. In short, we must freeze the footprint of food. Read More Watch - To Change the Way You Think About Food!
-
How can we ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns?Worldwide material consumption has expanded rapidly, as has material footprint per capita, seriously jeopardizing the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 12 and the Goals more broadly. Urgent action is needed to ensure that current material needs do not lead to the overextraction of resources or to the degradation of environmental resources, and should include policies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and mainstream sustainability practices across all sectors of the economy. Read more.
-
How is food waste linked to zoonotic diseases like COVID-19?It may not seem obvious, but the issue of food waste is linked to zoonotic diseases—meaning diseases that jump from animal to human—such as COVID-19. Agriculture is a major driver of human expansion into natural ecosystems, which, as the head of the United Nations Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, explained in a recent interview with The Guardian, can mean trouble. “Our continued erosion of wild spaces, of our primary forests and our ecosystems, have brought us uncomfortably close to reservoir hosts—animals and plants that harbour diseases that can jump to humans,” she says. “As we continue our relentless move into natural habitats, contact between humans and reservoir hosts increases—all of which increases the likelihood of interaction between vectors and humans.” Learn more.
-
Why are bees important?Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities. Pollination is a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity. To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day. The goal is to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries. Watch the video and BEE ENGAGED We all depend on pollinators and it is, therefore, crucial to monitor their decline and halt the loss of biodiversity. Learn More
Action 2 - JOIN THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Action 2: Join the Global Movement
Help us achieve SDG's Goal #12.3, commit to an Act of Change and Love for people and the planet and inspire others around you to do the same!
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Put your chef's hat on, take inspShare, share, share! Post your creations on social media using the hashtag #CookingIsAnActOfLove and #KitchenMemories or tagging Food for Soul, invite your friends and loved ones to submit their own recipes and help us spread the love.
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Submit your recipe with a picture and the story behind it, tell us why Cooking is an Act of Love for you, and we will share it here for everyone to enjoy it.
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Share, share, share! Post your creations on social media using the hashtag #CookingIsAnActOfLove or tagging Food for Soul, invite your friends and loved ones to submit their own recipes and help us spread the love.
Action 3: Get Involved
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Take inspiration from Massimo Bottura's Passatelli in broth or from the many recipes from Bread is Gold and become a more conscious consumer and cook.
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Become a volunteer
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Donate
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Share with us your Kitchen Memories and tell us about your act of love for people and the planet.