The Photographic Newsletter on European Matters #5/23: FOOD

We all need food. But eating does not merely entail a primitive action of devouring or consuming, of providing fuel for a body that would otherwise become evermore fatigued. Eating is not just physiological. It is social, personal, emotional, cultural and political.

As our planet’s population is growing while its resources are decreasing (after all, we should not be surprised that industrial and animal agriculture produce more than 65% of the world’s nitrous oxide emissions), we are faced with a pressing reminder: That we must act and come up with new solutions when it comes to the ways we produce and consume food. With a natural ecosystem that has become more fragile than ever, we might not have a choice but to embrace new experimental forms of growing and eating food.

Text by Laura from Kajet (Bucharest).

A person is standing in a room with lots of lamps and something that looks like tents to breed insects.

GERMANY

Scientists in Germany carry out tests to explore insects as an alternative source of protein. From the project Food Sync, which offers insights into the food tech industry in Europe © Ole Witt / Berlin.

Peeled Peaches are falling down a metal slide in a factory.

ITALY

Pitted, peeled peaches on their way to the quality control point before being transformed into purée © Nicolò Panzeri.

Boiling Potatoes in a pot on a wooden fireplace in Idomeni

GREECE

The refugee camp in Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonian border in 2016, where food came from aid organizations and villagers of Idomeni who brought groceries with them, such as a sack of potatoes. The refugees had to queue for hours every day to get food © Florian Bachmeier / Idomeni.

A person has her hands on the back and is trying to eat a fish on a stick and a rope only with the mouth. Next to the person is another person, doing the same.

FRANCE

Eating competition in northern France. The event often takes place during local celebrations where all the region’s inhabitants meet in a warm and welcoming atmosphere ©
Katherine Longly / Brussels.

HUNGARY

Nagybani, the biggest fresh vegetable and fruit market in Hungary, opened its gates in 1990. Since then, its size has tripled to 33 hectares. The buying and selling lasts until five o’clock in the morning, when the manufacturers drive home to continue working on their fields © Balint Hirling / Budapest.

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