May 28, 2013

Contributor: Lyon

Workshop:
Social inclusion, job creation, economics / Eating more sustainably within a limited budget –  Involving various population groups in sustainable food transition
Governance, synergies and local systems /  Final consumers:  General Public,  Low-income Households & multi-ethnic communities

A challenge for 36 families from various social backgrounds. Six months to improve their practices toward sustainable food: knowing, buying, cooking…enjoying!

The Project « Familles à Alimentation Positive » (sustainable food families) is an adaptation of the concept “Familles à Energie Positive” (energy efficient families). It is based on challenging 4 groups of families to change for a more sustainable behaviour.

The project leader is a regional group of NGO promoting organic agriculture (CORABIO). For few years, they are working on changing the common perception about organic products such as: being expensive, hard to find and to use, less good, etc…

The main goals:

– increase the demand for organic and local products to develop the organic agriculture

– allow access to organic and local product for all, regardless the social background

In this project, the committed families are “competing” to develop their use of sustainable food: local, organic, fresh product, etc… They are coached for few months, learning about sustainable food production and use. The progresses are checked by the rate of sustainable food in the grocery shopping list. At the end, the family with the best improvement wins.

The 36 families involved come from various social and ethnic backgrounds: deprived areas, low-income households, middle or upper-class, etc…

The end is planned for next mid-June. First results show:

• Reaching people far from organic products
• Families discovering new suppliers or selling points
• Raising awareness about organic agriculture
• Raising the pleasure about cooking and sharing recopies
• Long term knowledge
• Reconnect urban and rural populations

More on: http://famillesaalimentationpositive.fr/