Lecce, “Common Food”: the proposed resolution of the City Food Plan presented

Lecce, “Common Food”: the proposed resolution of the City Food Plan presented

The proposed resolution with which the municipal council will begin the institutional process for the drafting and adoption of the Food Plan was presented in recent days at Palazzo Carafa. The proposal adopts the contents and the path developed within the project “Cibo Comune”, financed by the Puglia Region as part of the Puglia Partecipazione 2022 Notice, edited by CeF.AS with the partnership of the bodies signing the protocol for the Food Policy of the city of Lecce: Slow food Lecce, Oltre Mercato Salento and Municipality of Lecce.

The project, focused on the themes of food, sustainable agriculture and food recycling, has seen the development in recent months of a participatory process of mapping and knowledge of the territory and the organization and holding of six widespread meetings, four participatory workshops and educational-laboratory activities in local schools. The process also involved the Medical Association, consumer organisations, educational institutions such as the “Presta Columella” farm, organizations and associations operating in the social agriculture and hospitality sector, as well as local producers, distributors and processors. From the meetings, useful indications emerged to define the orientations, guidelines and actions necessary to guarantee the citizens of Lecce a healthier, more sustainable diet, paying the right attention to local production, waste management and food recycling.

In the proposal the council will decide on the direction for the preparation of a Food Plan, strategic document which will define the vision, principles and guidelines to be followed in decision-making processes and practices, and which will outline the guidelines and concrete actions necessary to guarantee all citizens of Lecce access to healthy, nutritious, ecologically and ethically sustainable. The Plan will be drawn up and its actions implemented thanks to the support of a Food Council composed through a public notice by subjects representing citizens, public institutions, associations and all the actors of the agri-food system with the task of monitoring the implementation of the Food Policy, to propose innovative policies, projects and ideas to the Administration, and to involve and stimulate the local community.

«The local administration can do a lot to promote and stimulate the diffusion of a food culture that favors quality, healthiness and territorial identity, working together with producers and entities that, like the partners of the Cibo Comune project, promote a conscious approach to the topic of nutrition – declares the councilor for Productive Activities Paolo Foresio – the path that will lead to the approval of the Food Plan is the result of a need that the municipal administration has made its own, which arises from the sensitivity and mobilization of associations, consumers, citizens, doctors, environmental activists. We will continue this journey with them."

«The social capital activated so far with the Common Food project is the basis with which to build, together with the municipal administration, the Food Plan of the city of Lecce – these are the words of Fabrizio Chetrì, Virgina Meo and Sergio Longo respectively of Ce.FAS, Oltre Mercato Salento and Slow Food Lecce – together, we will continue to guarantee our support for the process, as members of the Coordination Table and facilitating relations with the national networks and the other cities that are initiating local food policies in Italy".