OUR DINNER CHOICES — AND THE PLANET

Start with a small step!

It's one thing to read about climate change and quite another to actually change your lifestyle. And how would that even work? Are we supposed to go back to living like we did in the Stone Age?!

When something feels overwhelming or difficult, it’s easy to give up before you’ve even had a chance to buy your first organic apple or sort your first glass jars. That’s when it’s important to remember what all mountain climbers know

– Every journey begins with a small step.

In fact, world leaders took a major step toward a better world in 2015. They drew up a list of 17 goals for a better world.

All countries should now work together to achieve the Global Goals by 2030. We want to achieve these goals in order to, among other things, accomplish the following four amazing things:

• Let's end extreme poverty!
• Reduced inequality and injustice in the world.
• More work toward peace and justice for all.
  
• A solution to the climate crisis!
  

In this material, you’ll read about flying tomatoes, science-fiction-like greenhouses, lab-grown hamburgers, and what tomato bottles have to do with flashing arcade games. What all these topics have in common is that they’re about food.

Food often plays a central role when people get together. We host Christmas dinners, bake birthday cakes, set the table for lunch outdoors on Midsummer’s Eve, and serve coffee and pastries when friends stop by.

The number of TV chefs is growing every year, food trends come and go, and we seem to be constantly on the hunt for the ultimate recipe. Food is essential to life, and—wonderfully enough—often a tremendous pleasure as well.

What does food mean to you?

Do you and your friends talk about food? What’s most important—that the food tastes good, how it looks, or whether it’s nutritious? Have you thought about how food affects your health—and the planet?

Did you have tea, a sandwich, and juice for breakfast? A piece of fruit? Was that lunch?
Or haven't you eaten anything since yesterday?

Take a moment to think about whether it was:

• Organic foods in your diet?
  
• Were there any Swedish products in the food? 
  
• Were there any imported products in the food, such as from Europe, the Americas, or Asia? 

When you and your friends talk about food, what do you talk about?

• What does it taste like?
• How much does it cost?
• Where did you buy it?
• What's in it?
• What are you in the mood for?
• Is it organic, Swedish?
• About calories, carbohydrates, or fat content?
• Different diets?