Eating City provides an international platform to discuss the future of food. Established in 2010, this French-based multi-year program encourages dialogue between individuals from many backgrounds to find solutions to food access issues. With increasing urbanization around the world, 70 percent of the global population is expected to live in urban centers. Eating City aims to rethink food economics to sustainably accommodate a growing urban population.
Through workshops and conferences, Eating City unites the international community to produce collaborative reports and publications focused on food solutions. Summer campus experiences in Vexin, France offer the unique opportunity for young food advocates from around the world to coordinate efforts and share diverse perspectives on location at La Bergerie de Villarceaux. With a focus on food production, food consumption, and human labor, Eating City facilitates creative and thoughtful cooperation across cultures to answer the question: What does the future of food look like?
Forty two participants representing 34 countries and 5 continents assembled in August 2015 for Eating City’s third annual Summer Campus session. Participants worked to assemble a document to “address the root causes of global food and agriculture crises rather than the symptoms”. Expo Milan 2015 featured the work of Eating City’s most recent Summer Campus program, presenting the common declaration that resulted from a week of conversation and education.
“No one solution will be effective if implemented in isolation, they must be adopted together,” states the collective Summer Campus declaration. “As we – the youth of Eating City Summer Campus 2015 – return to our respective regions, we will be working towards these goals through our engagement in the food system.”