Good health and wellbeing are key players in human flourishing, healthy bodies and healthy minds are necessary for development and transformation, and at the centre of overall well-being is a healthy diet. Food forms a huge part of our identity, good food contributes largely to our physical and mental health and most importantly food can be a transformative tool that can lead to the realisation of other goals. Recognising good health and nutritious food as a fundamental human right as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) article 25 (1) “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food …” is the starting point in adopting healthy eating practices and working towards the elimination of hunger for people all over the world in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal 2 of zero hunger and goal 3, good health and well-being.
However, eating good food is not enough, adopting a healthy food culture is important, we ought to be conscious of not just the food on our table but of the entire processes of food production and preparation. Our goal should be to promote sustainable food production and mitigating food waste. Individually, we need to start asking questions like: who produced our food? How sustainable was the production? Have the local farmers and producers been traded fairly? Keeping in mind the impact we have by promoting fair trade, we support local producers and help them in achieving their personal goals and also indirectly contributing to the development of their communities. When we support producers who practise sustainable food production, we are also actively protecting our environment, in line with the UN SDG goal 12 of responsible consumption and production.
We need to rethink the idea of food as a mere nourishment but as a fundamental human right and a key step in development. Starving people cannot develop society. When we think of food we should think of human rights, development and sustainability. Healthy food, responsible consumption, sustainable production and fair trade is where food, society and human rights intersect.
References
Sdgs.un.org. 2022. THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development. [online] Available at: <https://sdgs.un.org/goals> [Accessed 10 August 2022].
United Nations. 2022. Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations. [online] Available at: <https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights> [Accessed 10 August 2022].
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