In Amsterdam you almost trip over the good initiatives in the area of food! And this while the Dutch cuisine is not really world famous to put it gently...

 

Everywhere you go, urban farmers are busy building greenery in parks and parks, the leftovers are picked up at restaurants to prepare tasty meals for homeless people and in almost every neighbourhood you can join a food cooperative to collectively buy honest food at a small price.

 

Which one to choose?

 

We visited URBANIAHOEVE, a social design lab for urban agriculture founded in 2009 and operating, among other, in Amsterdam North; traditionally a very poor area.

The foodscapes that URBANIAHOEVE builds together with communities and local agencies are the empirical application of a holistic approach to the human-city-nature complex, a qualitative reconsideration of the real and actual city’s public space. URBANIAHOEVE’s vision of urban agriculture describes a coherent edible ecological framework within the public space and that describes the foundation of an urban agriculture that URBANIAHOEVE desires and proposes, an urban agriculture that positively impacts the city at ecological, social, and nutritional levels.

 

Founder Debra Solomon elaborates: “Free Food For All is my ultimate goal. My projects provide infrastructures that deliver qualitatively high standing food to the poorest of neighborhoods. These areas have many serious health issues, such as obesity and diabetes, related to a lack of food in general or a lack of healthy food specifically. We can provide that for free.”

 

You are kindly invited to visit, work and join in the harvest when applicable. Just check www.urbaniahoeve.nl upfront for the opening hours.