The Government of the Canary Islands, through the Directorate General for Research and Coordination of Sustainable Development, an area attached to the Presidency of the Government, has published the ‘Guide to good sustainable practices in the gastronomy of the Canary Islands’, an action included in the set of actions included in the Canary Islands Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030 project.
The appearance of this document also coincides with the celebration of the ‘International Day of Sustainable Gastronomy’, designated by the UN as “synonymous with a cuisine that takes into account the origin of the ingredients, how they are grown and how they reach our markets”.
For this reason, the Canary Islands Government’s Directorate General for Research and Coordination of Sustainable Development understood very early on that gastronomy and all the links in its value chain are strategic for promoting the achievement of the objectives and goals of the Canary Islands Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030 and, through it, of the sustainable development goals of the UN’s Agenda 2030.
For this reason, and with the help of Sonia García Fariña, from Senet Consultores and one of the precursors of the congress on ‘Sustainable Gastronomy. Canarias, un referente’, the Directorate General initiated a process of consultation and workshops throughout the Canary Islands to raise awareness and train agents of the gastronomy ecosystem in the Canary Islands about sustainability, the SDGs and the Canary Islands Agenda 2030, in order to identify good practices in this field, according to a note from the Executive.
The result of this process has resulted in the publication on 18 June 2023 of a ‘Guide to good sustainable practices in the gastronomy of the Canary Islands’, a document that, as the director general, David Padrón, points out, represents “a first exercise of landing the Canary Islands Agenda 2030 in the different links of the value chain that make up the gastronomy in the Canary Islands”.
Specifically, he points out, “it is a work that identifies around 150 specific actions that may serve as inspiration for other people and entities to commit to the SDGs, with the principles, values and goals of the Canary Islands 2030 Agenda”.
CANARY ISLANDS: A “FASCINATING GASTRONOMY JOURNEY
The project director points out that the months that this research work has lasted “have been a fascinating journey in which they have travelled to different parts of the islands, interviewing an endless list of professionals in the sector and holding workshops in which a wide variety of people who work or are linked to the gastronomy value chain have participated”.
As David Padrón warns, there are many valuable experiences left out that have not yet been able to be identified and therefore all people and organisations in the gastronomy sector are invited to share the success stories they know of in favour of sustainable development and sustainable gastronomy.
To this end, the Multi-stakeholder Platform of the Canary Islands Agenda 2030 has, among other resources, a form to record these good practices, actions or projects that are understood to be aligned with sustainability.