Sustainable Gastronomy Week – locally sustainable gastronomy in Söderslätt 2024-2595

About the project

Malmö Food Council (MFC) wants to establish and develop the UN's and FAO's initiative Sustainable Gastronomy Week (SGW) in Söderslätt during 2025. The overall goal of the project is to create an annual, regionally extensive activity that promotes regenerative, circular, and socially sustainable ideas within gastronomy. The aim is also to lower the threshold for more people to engage in sustainability work by showcasing concrete and inspiring examples based on the global goals. The implementation of SGW would increase awareness and highlight the extensive role and impact of gastronomy on our communities. Something that would contribute to a faster transition towards a sustainable and transparent food system, as well as initiate and strengthen value-creating processes that take place both before, during, and after SGW. Sustainable Gastronomy Week is a global initiative from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The purpose of SGW is to raise awareness of sustainability issues within gastronomy and highlight how actors throughout the food chain – from farm to table back to soil – can work with sustainability in practice. This includes everything from what raw materials are used and purchased, business models, working conditions, energy issues, food waste management, and the meeting with the customer, to name a few. The project will run for 18 months, with the main focus on holding a Sustainable Gastronomy Week in 2025, and then further developing the concept and creating a recurring event.

With a focus on increased, strengthened identity for Söderslätt's gastronomy; collaboration between the culinary enthusiasts in Söderslätt and further development of sustainable growth for the regional gastronomy, we seek support for:

• Establishing Sustainable Gastronomy Week with a starting point in Söderslätt in 2025
• Creating new collaborations, businesses, and engagement within gastronomy in Söderslätt
• Creating new inclusive arenas for innovation and entrepreneurship with a focus on sustainable place development through gastronomy

The project contributes to achieving Leader Söderslätt's development strategy. Primarily within the focus areas: 1) Innovation, learning, and collaboration: The project is based on SGW, which is new for Sweden and requires extensive collaboration within gastronomy in Söderslätt 4) Attractive destinations: SGW is a supportive and developing destination initiative that promotes a sustainable and attractive tourism industry in Söderslätt 5) Circular economy and sharing economy: The entire SGW is based on sustainability and particularly the circular and regenerative, where the focus becomes a circular thinking for gastronomy – from farm to table back to farm. Secondarily, the project also touches on the other focus areas as we intend to establish contacts and build collaboration between, for example, Malmö restaurant school and Nils Holgersson's agricultural high school with Kristianstad University’s gastronomy program for increased participation and influence from youth. Sustainable nature including water and the agriculture of the future are also obvious elements in the work with SGW as sustainable development permeates all work and the starting point for SGW is to support locally sustainable production and consumption. The project is organized as follows: Work package 1: Project management Work package 2: Co-creation conference and collaboration council Work package 3: Sustainable Gastronomy Week Work package 4: Communication Work package 5: Evaluation and further development Choose the counties where you will carry out the investment or establishment,

The purpose of the project and the implementation of SGW is to raise awareness of sustainability issues within gastronomy and highlight how actors throughout the food chain – from farm to table back to farm – can work with sustainability in practice. This includes everything from what raw materials are used and purchased, working conditions, equality, education, sustainable entrepreneurship, handling food waste, and the meeting with the customer to mention a few. SGW offers a unique platform for Söderslätt to take a leading role in the global discussion on sustainable gastronomy and we aim to create long-term change in how we produce and consume food, from local to global. Some of the key issues that we will work from according to FAO to achieve sustainability goals within gastronomy are: 1. Support local primary production and processing 2. Try locally anchored traditional food 3. Keep culinary traditions alive 4. Avoid food waste In addition to these four from FAO, we add our own key issue that is highly relevant to the project: Sustainable place development through food and drink (https://www.fao.org/sustainable-gastronomy-day/en)