Sustainable food is a key issue for our time, combining climate, social, and economic concerns. Raising awareness among citizens, especially younger generations, about more responsible practices is essential. The Alimenterre Festival, created in 2007 in a Parisian cinema, has become a global benchmark in this field. Held every year from October 15 to November 30, it offers a selection of documentary films and educational activities to help people understand agricultural and food issues at the local and global levels.
This festival invites reflection and action, encouraging the joint development of sustainable and supportive food systems, while highlighting the right to food for all. It serves as a platform for raising awareness, allowing citizens to question their food choices and their impacts.
The Alimenterre Festival: a national initiative
The Alimenterre Festival is an annual national campaign that encourages people to reflect on food consumption patterns and their impact on both the environment and populations. Through film screenings, debates, and educational activities, it aims to raise awareness among citizens and students about global food challenges.
In this context, the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry high school in Vitré, one of three high schools on The Land Campus (along with a high school in Rennes and another in La Guerche-de-Bretagne), mobilized 140 students to organize an entire day around the themes of the Alimenterre Festival on November 26 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
The goal of this initiative? To raise awareness among their school community about sustainable and eco-responsible food, while promoting local stakeholders and professionals in the sector.
This initiative is in line with The Land Campus' philosophy, which focuses on preparing young people for the challenges of tomorrow. It revolves around producing well, consuming well, living well, the campus reflects on the challenges of the world of tomorrow, while maintaining constant contact with players in the economic sphere. This proximity allows students and teachers to acquire valuable expertise to fully integrate the challenges of societal and environmental transition into their practices.
A day of varied activities
To translate the themes of the Alimenterre Festival into concrete actions, the students designed a rich and diverse program involving the entire school community. Here are the highlights of the day:
- Local meals and snacks: Preparation and distribution of breakfast and snacks made exclusively from local products, in partnership with regional producers.
- Interventions by professionals:
- A dietitian led workshops on responsible eating.
- A representative from Poulets de Janzé presented the challenges associated with quality labels, such as Label Rouge.
- The president of the Vitré Fair Trade Association raised participants' awareness of the links between fair trade and international solidarity.
- Activities and exhibition:
- An exhibition at the school library on organic and local food, on loan from the Maison de la Consommation et de l’Environnement (House of Consumption and the Environment).
- Activities in the cafeteria, with a waste meter to measure food waste, taste tests, and presentations on local producers who contributed to the menu of the day.
- Film screening and discussion: Screening of two films, “The Boxer’s Theory” and “The Evils of Food,” followed by discussions led by the students themselves to further explore sustainable agriculture and global food challenges.
Student involvement
Although the Alimenterre Festival is not organized directly by the students, they have played a key role in adapting this national initiative to their high school. In particular, they have:
- Contacted around twenty local producers to collaborate on the project, particularly for the preparation of meals and snacks.
- Planned and coordinated activities with their teachers, while ensuring that all classes, including 8th and 9th graders, were involved.
- Prepared post-screening discussions in class, developing discussion frameworks to guide the discussions.
- Raised awareness among their peers through presentations and fun activities.
This organization has enabled them to develop valuable skills, while strengthening their awareness of environmental and societal issues.
An initiative that benefits everyone
This project has enabled Antoine de Saint-Exupéry High School in Vitré to fully embrace an eco-responsible approach. By promoting short supply chains and raising awareness of the fight against food waste, it illustrates the importance of linking theoretical learning with concrete actions.
For the students, this experience was a unique opportunity for learning by doing, preparing them to become responsible citizens. For the school community, it was an opportunity to better understand food issues and discover more sustainable practices.
An inspiration to replicate
The success of this day shows that it is possible to engage young people in concrete and meaningful projects. By combining information, debate, and action in the field, this type of initiative can inspire other institutions to make education on sustainable food a priority. Raising awareness about healthy eating is a collective effort, and projects like this remind us that it starts in school.
