TURIN, Italy – “Shortening the food supply chain, reducing animal protein consumption, and cutting down on waste are crucial for the future of many European cities and beyond. These efforts aim to create a better, cleaner, fairer, and ultimately more beautiful future. The BEAUTIFOOD project, presented at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, Slow Food most important event taking place in Torino (Italy) from September 26 to 30, aims to create a more engaged, informed, and active European food community, capable of driving meaningful change towards sustainability and resilience”, comments Martina Dotta, from the Project Development and International Relations office at Slow Food.
The BEAUTIFOOD project is part of a broader movement towards sustainability and environmental protection in Europe, which involves international partners such as Slow Food, Transnational Institute (The Netherlands), Slow food Barcelona Vázquez Montalbán, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts (Belgium), Vegetarian Society (Denmark).
All partners are deeply engaged in promoting a better and more sustainable food system, elevating citizens’ participation in the political process and making them aware of the possibility of influencing advocacy processes.
Based on a participatory model, the project includes various components aimed at stimulating reflection and dialogue through innovative games, promoting democratic participation through workshops and debates, and strengthening the connection with EU institutions to ensure that citizens’ demands reach policymakers.
At Terra Madre visitors will have the possibility to enter innovative Escape room experiences to play interactive games and reflect on how they choose food and what they would like politicians to change. All those ideas will be collected and brought on stage during the conference What Europe do you want? Let’s make the change together!, on Sunday September 29 at 2 pm, before being submitted to local and EU-level decision makers.
Throughout 2025, international project Partners will organize a series of creative and inclusive events to inspire active participation in the democratic process, fostering dialogue between citizens and decision-makers to shape a sustainable future for the European food system.
Those events will employ other innovative formats in each country such as the Lost in the Supermarket Experience, a creative event where participants navigate a simulated supermarket, learning about sustainable choices and the impact of their purchasing decisions. There will be agroecological Festivals and Markets, collaborative workshops with artists and workshops on Food Waste.
Project partners will focus on a specific topic, from the importance of reducing the consumption of animal protein to the promotion of agroecological practices, to supporting local food chains. Together, these different national projects will help to build a more inclusive, sustainable and democratic food system.
