Apples and Action
Germany is home to over 2000 varieties of apples, yet only about 5 are readily available in supermarkets. We aim to maintain the natural biodiversity through supporting local, organic orchards, which are often being abundant because farming has become industrialized and taste and use of apples has changed. By harvesting heirloom apple varieties we also preserve the natural habitat for wildlife, which the commercial monoculture farms neglect.
When I was asked to design and manage the 3-day-catering for 250 people during Information+ Conference 2019 (Potsdam, Germany) – an international conference on the visualization of data and information design, I took this as a chance and challenge to test alternative opportunities for food sources and production. Therefore I decided on a radical catering concept: homemade, local, organic, zero waste, products from small producers and vegetarian (often even vegan, but we just didn’t mention it…). Basically, doing everything, which is usually not done when catering to a large amount of people.
However, being on a mission like that, one always needs to remember: you can change the system, if you truly believe in what you do and if you do it with your heart and joy.
2018 has been a really good year for fruit in Germany and the harvest was plentyful. But this does not mean, that you will find those local apples on the market shelves for you to buy: some local smallscale farmers don’t have the capacities or the market structures to harvest and sell their produce, because cheaper apples from far away are flooding the market… Therefore, instead of counting the hours to prep, we dedicated one beautiful day venturing out to a local organic farm to help the farmer to turn the delicious and sweet yet untouched apples into 600 portions of apple sauce.
It’s been a beautiful day and connective experience for our team. While also involving the people from the farm in our collective food saving session, we truly used the power of food to create connections, support and care for each other.
Don’t wait for things to change – be the change!
