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Denmark

Princess Marie officially opens Better Food for More People – World Food Summit 2018

On Thursday, Princess Marie officially opened the Better Food for More People – World Food Summit 2018 at Christianborg Palace.

This is the third edition of the two-day summit and the second with Princess Marie as the patron. The summit is hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. The ‘Better Food for More People’ movement was combined with the World Food Summit.

More about the summit from the Ministry of Environment and Food: “The need for strong solutions across the world is calling for action among the world’s politicians, decision makers, experts, professionals, chefs, scientist and CEO’s. Better Food for More People and the annual World Food Summit in Copenhagen is framing that action to evolve and take place. Together with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which involves all nations, the aim is to push forward the agenda of sustainable development within the production and consumption of food and essentially healthy lives in the global society.”

Princess Marie made the opening speech. She insisted on the terrible numbers regarding food waste: “Today, more than 800 million people live in hunger, while more than two billion people are overweight or obese. This truly is the paradox of our time. But our food is not only unequally distributed… Every year, almost one-third of all food produced is either lost or wasted, and we have to stop that as well. Especially, since we live on a globe with limited resources. As patron of this summit, I urge that we use this Summit to work together to address the global food challenges.”

Princess Marie also talked about the importance of teaching the younger generation about food waste: “In my house, every now and then my children have to empty the fridge before buying new food. It means that I sometimes have to be a strict and unpopular parent – and I believe the best parents are! We have to educate all our children to eat and consume food with modesty because science shows that it is during childhood that every person’s health and food habits are formed for the rest of their life. We can all do a difference if we have the right tools, the knowledge, and the skills.”

She continued with a joke before closing her remarks: “Therefore, we must work to ensure that all children are given the possibility to live a life with a healthy diet, with the ability to cook for themselves and the knowledge of the globes limitations. I know that from where we stand today, this dream sounds less realistic than Denmark winning the World Cup in soccer. But nevertheless, it should be our aim.”