Paris' Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar with Cara Augustenborg at Le Paysan Urban. My first day in France with their Future Leaders Invitation Programme was a whirlwind, beginning with a tour of an urban farm and the Smart Food Paris incubation hub alongside Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar – TV journalist turned activist turned politician with a passion for sustainable food systems (and one of my new heroes).
Le Paysan Urbain is one of 238 urban farms supported by the City of Paris, producing a wide array of microgreens using fully sustainable methods, including an impressive greenhouse with sustainably heated water circulated through the seed tables to keep them warm year round.
Le Paysan Urbain is one of 238 urban farms supported by the City of Paris, producing a wide array of microgreens using fully sustainable methods, including an impressive greenhouse with sustainably heated water circulated through the seed tables to keep them warm year round.
I couldn’t believe all the flavors bursting from these tiny greens! In addition to providing a community resource for education on nature and farming, the farm also hosts local composting facilities; grows hops for a local microbrewery; and allows nearby residents to access fresh, nutritious food at low/no cost. They also make an effort to employ people who are struggling to enter/re-enter the job market, be it refugees, single parents, etc.
From the farm, Audrey then took me to nearby Smart Food Paris incubation hub where I met three entrepreneurs born out of this initiative:
From the farm, Audrey then took me to nearby Smart Food Paris incubation hub where I met three entrepreneurs born out of this initiative:
| - Maximillien Ngyuyen of Excellent (plant-based) Burger with no crappy chemicals or imported soya in his burgers like the usual meat alternatives. It had my taste buds completely fooled! |  ExcllentBurger.com |
| - And the two passionate designers behind Somalte -Tasty, nutritious edible bowls perfect for festivals and other events where reusable food containers aren’t practical. The bowls are made from hops residues from local microbreweries so they’re also a great example of putting circular economy and zero waste principals into practice. PS: They’re crowdfunding to upscale their enterprise at the moment, if you’ve got some spare dosh to invest! It struck me that Ireland could really use an equivalent organisation that puts national, sustainable food security at the heart of its ethos as opposed to our entirely export led focus on food production. |  Somalte.com |
 | One common thread across all these initiatives was a need for more sustainable packaging. It’s a major issue for food products that need controlled humidity, protection from damage, and attractive packaging options with no easy solutions yet. (That’s a hint for budding Irish product designers, by the way.) I thought the vegetable based plastic was a good alternative, but today I learned the GM-based ingredients usually travel from the USA to Asia for processing and then back to Europe for sale. I also thought the reusable bamboo and composable containers were a good alternative to plastic but it turns out they are full of sealant chemicals that can end up in our foods. As Kermit said: “It ain’t easy being green”. |
After eating my way through Smart Food Paris, I then stuffed myself further with a traditional French lunch and chat with Le Monde’s agricultural journalist, Mathilde Gerard, followed by meetings at France Strategie and the Ministre de la Transition Ecologique – All in an effort to gain further understanding of France’s climate and agricultural policies.
As a country that is truly passionate about food, there is a lot to learn in France that is applicable to Ireland’s journey to a more sustainable food system, but today I’m struck by how much we have in common. Both the people of Ireland and France have come a long way in recent years in understanding the climate and biodiversity challenge, and both countries have made significant leaps in environmental ambition over the last couple of years in particular.
| Both have struggled with the challenge of implementing taxes on carbon pollution in the past, but both have improved their approach to citizen participation in policy development via Citizens Assemblies, which have driven much more interesting climate and environmental legislation recently. Both countries now face the challenge of implementing these new policies and laws at a pace that aligns with the urgency of the climate crisis, while also ensuring a just transition for those employed or dependent on high-carbon industries. |  Yellow vest protest 2018 (Source: NPR) |
In many ways, Ireland could have an easier job of doing this than France, even though France has been better at meeting EU climate targets historically. As a society with many more diverse industrial players, “bringing everyone along” in France may be more difficult, but it’s hopeful and inspirational to see how hard the people I met today are trying to make it happen in many different ways.
| I continue my Parisian exploration tomorrow with meetings with representatives from political parties and farmers’ unions along with members of France’s High Climate Council, which I’m expecting to be directly relevant to my work on Ireland’s own Climate Change Advisory Council. At the end of tomorrow, I head off to Montpellier by super fast train to spend day three getting back to my roots with some intensive agricultural research. My brain is already swimming with ideas and my notebook is nearly full. I might possibly explode from either mental inspiration or all the lovely food! |  "kill me now" profiterole |
Stay tuned for more tasty treats from France and keep fighting the good fight!
-Cara
-Cara
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