2020 will go down in history as the year of the pandemic. A year in which we have been able to see how the halt to our activity considerably minimized the impact on the planet, and allowed us to reflect on how we can continue to advance to rebalance our relationship with the environment, setting objectives to meet. One of our great challenges as a society is directly related to food and responsible consumption. That is why major capitals like Barcelona can make a difference and set a precedent to be an exemplary value for change.
In this sense, Barcelona stands in 2021 as the World Capital of Sustainable Food, a project to promote a food transition towards sustainability that will strengthen local economies and improve people's health, as well as that of the planet as a whole, with a proposal that revolves around a series of events and activities on healthy, fair and sustainable food, in addition to the development of more than ninety food projects and policies with the objective set for 2030. A program that will extend until December.
In addition to the capital status, next October the city will host the seventh edition of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Global Forum, the first international treaty signed by 210 cities that commit to promoting sustainable, inclusive, resilient, safe and diversified agri-food systems, to ensure healthy and accessible food for all people, with the aim of reducing food waste, preserving biodiversity and, in turn, mitigating the effects of the climate crisis and adapting to it. It will be a good opportunity to warm up shortly before the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in the first half of November in Glasgow.
More than ninety food projects and policies will be developed with the objective set for 2030Barcelona already has some infrastructures in place, such as the network of municipal markets, which receives some 65 million visits a year, and its connection with the metropolitan region where the local crops we consume are produced. But, it has also lost 80% of its local agricultural production land since 1956, so this is a good opportunity toto highlight the links between the urban world and the rural world.
At the end of 2020, the first wholesale market in the state and the second in Europe specializing in organic products, Biomarket, was inaugurated in Mercabarna. With this infrastructure in operation, companies that market organic food are concentrated in a single space of 8,900 m2, which facilitates the distribution of these products to retailers in the city.
In addition, work is underway on the upcoming opening of a space for the direct sale of part of this local organic production, and other projects in development such as the Proximity Agri-food Exchange Center (CIAP), a logistics and commercial services platform for small producers, not only from the metropolitan region but extensible to all of Catalonia, so that they can also distribute to all involved sectors.
Biomarket is the first wholesale market in the state and the second in Europe specializing in organic productsAlthough initiatives such as Biomarket are part of the activities that Barcelona, as a city belonging to the Milan Pact, is committed to, the Catalan administration has a proposal for the capital that is based on four main axes:
- Promote healthier and more sustainable diets, and ensure everyone can access them. - Generate more economic opportunities for local sectors, strengthening and promoting neighborhood shops, municipal markets, and the local agroecological fabric. - Combat the climate emergency in the Barcelona metropolis, boosting green spaces, such as urban gardens, and protecting peri-urban agriculture. - Generate resilience against global risks and social inequalities.
The 'Menu of the Seasons' One of the most transversal initiatives launched by the City Council is the Menu of the Seasons, a project that has the collaboration of professionals related to the world of food, restoration, and design, among others, which consists of a series of gastronomic proposals that incorporate some principles of sustainable, healthy, and seasonal eating, and that include some parameters that serve as a guide for the adhering restaurants. Dishes and ingredients that each center will adapt to its own style.
More than 150 restaurants have joined the initiativeIn thespace dedicated to the Seasonal Menu on the city council's website, we can find out which products are in season at any given time, and for the most avid cooks, we will find a series of recipes prepared by the CETT, HTSI and ESHOB cooking schoolsthat will teach us to delight ourselves from our homes. The star products of the current Spring Menu are: cherry, mussel, pea, asparagus, broad bean, strawberry, sardine, beetroot and orange, and we will see that, with them, delicious wonders can be made.
The capital status thus offers the opportunity to once again promote the city's catering and tourism, and help strengthen it after the hard months of closures suffered by this sector during the pandemic. More than 150 restaurants have joined the campaign and can not only be found in the list available on the official website, but are also identified with a campaign badge located on their doors next to the logo of the Seasonal Menu, which also appears on their menus. In this way, it is intended that Barcelona residents and visitors get to know seasonal products and also participate directly in the initiative.
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