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https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jul/16/the-good-life-in-liege-the-start-of-a-food-revolution>
"This is not a Hollywood story: it’s a Belgian story, for a start. It’s not
even certain to end well; that’s a bit up in the air right now. But it’s a
story about how things – important things – could be different. How they could,
perhaps, be better. It’s a story about Liège, a city whose 19th-century heyday
as a coal and steel powerhouse is long gone. Like many ex-coal and steel towns,
Liège is poor, with increasing numbers of households living in poverty, but it
also has a strong solidarity culture, a diverse population – and the best
waffles.
So far, so Belgian. But why are we talking about Liège? Because in 2013, a
group of activists who wanted to make food and city life better, greener and
fairer, brought 600 people – all with an interest in food production –
together. It asked them to imagine what could be different in Liège, within one
generation. It’s an interesting question, the fundamental one really: what
change can we concretely effect within our lifetimes? What they arrived at was
this: “That in 35 years, one generation, the majority of food consumed in the
Liège region would be grown locally in the best ecological and social
conditions.” That’s a nice, if wordy, aspiration. But the thing is, they’ve
tried to make it happen and even – to a degree – have succeeded.
That moment spawned a movement that is now coordinated by a non-profit called
the Liège Food Belt: six employees, funded by a hand-to-mouth combination of
local, regional and European money.
“People say it’s a revolution,” says Christian Jonet. “It’s not a revolution
yet, but it has the potential: we’re at the start of the story.” Along with his
colleague, Elisabeth Gruie, this energetic, but exhausted-looking man is
generously squeezing my visit into his packed calendar. Gruie used to be a
banker and Jonet’s story is similarly unexpected: he spent eight years selling
aeroplane engine repairs, gradually, he says, becoming aware “that I was taking
part in the problem, not the solution”. Increasingly conscious of the
challenges presented by the climate crisis, he started to get involved in
sustainability initiatives as a volunteer, rapidly realising food was one of
the crucial challenges for the new millennium. Today he’s the coordinator for
the Food Belt."
Via Susan ****
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
