Welcome to the Tell Me What I Eat Campaign. A campaign run by the Federation of Young European Greens – and an adjoining website on what you eat, why you eat it, and how someone else produces what you eat. That seems a pretty important question, doesn’t it? Let’s face it, everybody eats. Even Daniel Cohn-Bendit eats. People you hold dearly, your friends, your family, your sweetheart… Ideally everybody consumes three meals a day. This shows how important food is in our lives.
Unfortunately, we tend not to care all too much about what we eat. After a hard day’s work, we just rush into the supermarket and grab anything out of the racks that looks distantly nutritious. We don’t even take a peek at the ingredients label. What is an emulgator? What is E-951? A colour additive? You’d have to be a scientist to understand. To you and me, it’s the great unknown. We don’t have a clue of what these things do to our bodies.
And then we’re only talking about the risks involved for our own health. But food involves more than just the final product, meant to nourish us. It is an important part of the entire ecosystem. Whole chunks of the Brazilian rainforest are being torn down daily, so that our future steaks can graze. In our food choice, we often don’t bother whether the food has been grown in a sustainable way. We don’t know how it was produced, neither where.
Sustainability is a key element in the Green view on the world. We only have one planet to live on, and it’s supposed to be there for everyone, including the Third World and future generations. For us, Young European Greens, this topic is so important that we decided to do a campaign on it. With this campaign, we aim to raise consumers´ awareness on what they eat. We believe organic food is a way to protect our environment and to feed the world in a sustainable way at the same time. GMO’s, as one of the greatest threats to organic food and our environment as a whole, just don’t fit into this picture.
Of course, campaigns won’t work without networking. If you are a young green somewhere in Europe, you can inspire yourself by getting your hands on the campaign reader that we have produced. Then you will be able to knock out the critics with arguments so splendid that they give light in the dark. The same arguments can be used when you are campaigning in the streets, to convince the passers-by. The campaign reader and our website has an action page, which offers you ideas for actions aimed at reaching the public, and which includes the necessary campaign materials. Because to green the world, you’ll need to put in a bit of effort!
So what can we do more than wish you happy meals? If you weren’t convinced about the benefi ts of organic food before hearing of the campaign, you will probably rush to the nearest organic shop right after you devoured the last letter of this magazine.
Actions as part of the campaign have already been carried out in Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Romania! Check the website: www.tellmewhatieat.net for more information, more pictures and suggestions for actions.