FOOD Pilots
The food scenario addresses processes and activities taking place across the food supply chain. The aim of this activity is to raise awareness about good food practices, though ICT tools and services that enhance transparency and education in all relevant steps of food production, distribution and consumption.
In light of the overall scope of CAPSELLA, this scenario will facilitate open data integration to support knowledge generation, sharing and utilisation on the benefits of agrobiodiversity, sustainable farming and healthy consumer choices. Ecosystem services and natural resources such as water, crop pollination, nutrient cycling and climate regulation, all rely on biodiversity. The outputs of the scenario will hence allow food supply chains to recognise and put a new emphasis on the planet’s diversity of life, which is critical for maintaining the basic life support systems we rely on every day.
The food scenario will be further enriched by involving several actors of the food supply chain, including chefs from restaurants and the hospitality sector, food producers and wine makers, social enterprises, consumer networks and civil society groups from Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic. The deployment of open data services will be based on continuous interaction and co-development together with committed communities, already identified in the aforementioned countries.
ICT tools will support the scenario by a) creating a collaborative workspace for sharing best practices, potentially resulting in various synergies between a permanently collaborating community and b) producing data-driven services supporting good food knowledge and practices across the food supply chain. A wiki-like facility will provide space for the construction of innovative narratives for supporting food biodiversity, scaling sustainable production-consumption patterns and enhancing quality of life.
The Open Data platform related to the food supply chain will create the basis for further utilisation by a diverse set of actors, including new startups and services that will be incubated by CAPSELLA.
The Canteen Manager
Quote: “Our university is the first university in the world to receive an International Green Flag for environmental friendliness. Our Campus canteen is proudly driving this transition”.
Name: Clair
Age: 52
Location: Cork, Ireland
Technical comfort: basic computer expertise
Profession: Public Canteen Manager
Motivations
Clair wants to maintain excellence in the University Canteen, serving fresh food, confectionary, barista coffee and innovative, nutritionally-analysed menus in a variety of attractive and atmospheric settings to 20,000 full-time students and 2,750 staff, on a daliy basis. Students and staff can enjoy home-grown herbs and vegetables to complement produce supplied by a group of local producers and farmers. A nutritionist is on hand for advice on healthy eating and students can also buy fresh fruit and veg at regular ‘market days’.
Needs
Clair needs a tool that allows her to quickly identify and share information regarding recipes and ingredients served at the University Canteen. She would like to promote transparency and awareness about the nutritional value of each portion served at the campus canteen, and is very keen in accepting feedback from the students and staff that enjoy the food served there in a daily basis.
Ideal experience
An ICT tool that collects and shares information about healthy food and exercise habits, aiming to raise awareness and scale informed daily food choices in campus. This should be able to identify in real time which daily needs/allowances are covered by each meal offered. Students and staff will also be able to access aggregated data, in order to better understand which percentage of their daily nutritional needs are met with each meal, enabling them to adopt better food habits. In addition, the service should provide alerts for allergen presence in the planned weekly menu, in order to avoid consumption of these foods.
The Aware Customer
Quote: “My university is advertising its sustainability performance, but I think there is still a lot of work to be done. Improving food at the canteen would certainly help move towards this direction”.
Name: Fiona
Age: 22
Location: Cork, Ireland
Technical comfort: basic computer expertise
Profession: Philosophy student
Motivations
Fiona is vegetarian and is very sensitive about animal rights. She believes that in order to address major environmental challenges of our times, like climate change, there has to be a radical rethinking of the way we look at food. This is why she helped organise a student group that tries to push green alternatives in the UCC campus. They have created an educational student garden and organise lectures about sustainable food and other events in order to bring awareness in the campus. She thinks that there should be at least one “meatless” day a week at the University’s Canteen.
Needs
Fiona needs a tool that allows her to quickly get information about the nutritional value and environmental footprint of food served in the university canteen. She is interested in the story and origins of the food she consumes every day, and would be interested in providing useful feedback for improvements in menu development.
Ideal experience
An ICT tool that collects and shares information about healthy food and exercise habits, aiming to raise awareness and scale informed daily food choices in campus. This should be able to identify in real time which daily needs/allowances are covered by each meal offered. Students and staff will also be able to access aggregated data, in order to better understand which percentage of their daily nutritional needs are met with each meal, enabling them to adopt better food habits. In addition, the service should provide alerts for allergen presence in the planned weekly menu, in order to avoid consumption of these foods.