Public Meals in Scandinavia – pathways towards a Mission

Public meals has a long and strong tradition for taking action in developing more sustainable food systems. In Denmark the transition to more organic food in public meals has been driven by public procurement policies. Sweden has created a Mission on Public School Meals. This has shown a pathway over the past decades and demonstrated that the public can be a powerful political driver of demand towards both producers and suppliers. But the need for sustainable transition of the food system goes further and includes actions such as food waste reduction strategies, shorter food value chains and more active plant-based food and meal strategies. The workshop takes up this theme for discussion among policy makers, researchers and practitioners.

We like to further investigate the potential for a future transition to a more sustainable and most likely plant-based diet from the perspective of public buyers, public kitchen professionals, the end-users/consumers, from local governments and from the research perspective.

Such efforts are at the core supporting sustainable growth and development by using Public Meals as a key lever towards a Foodsystem Transformation. It will emphasize a just transition by using public procurement to best embark on advanced technical and social innovation efforts.

The workshop will aim to foster further development of the innovation ecosystem in Skåne and the Greater Copenhagen region to provide relevant research, development and solutions related to the creation of a roadmap for a Mission on public meals in Scandinavian Countries. The aim is to align participant contributions for a joint application for InterReg ØKS funding.

We have prepared an excellent agenda and will combine this session with a first half with a key note about the Copenhagen transition towards organic public meals and why such work requires a strategic approach. This will be followed by inspirational pitches each highlighting different elements related to the strategic challenges regarding public meals.

Agenda:

9:00 – 9:30 – Arrival and refreshments – and short introductions of participants (FIKA)

9:30 – 10:00 - Key note introduction – Using public meals as a strategic resource for sustainable development. The Copenhagen model to convert 70.000 daily meals to 90 % organic share and high culinary quality – Line Rise Nielsen, Changing Food

10:00 – 10:50 - Inspirational thematic pitches and Q&A

o Societal and economic impact based on Swedish School meals - Petter Lundborg, Lunds University

o Public Procurement as a key enabler for change – Betina Bergmann Madsen, Municipalitiy of Copenhagen

o Establishing a large Public kitchen in Kristianstad - Inger Tolsved Rosenkvist, Region Skåne

o Grocery delivery and elderly care in Helsingborg - John Olsson, Lunds University

o Systemic approach and Mission driven Innovation related to public meals – Approaches in Sweden and the Nordics - Henrik Nørby Søndergaard, Lunds University

11:00 – 11:45 - Workshop in groups related to priorities of future work and joint applications for funding

11:45 – 12:00 - Harvesting learnings and next steps

This event is jointly organized by Lunds University, Krinova and Greater Copenhagen.