Regenerative Urban Farming Workshop in Osaka
When you think of food, what comes to mind first?
When you're hungry, what do you think of?
Is it a processed food, or is it the ingredients?
Do you love cooking or wish you can cook?
What is your lifestyle now, and do you take enough time to really look at what you're putting in your body?
I was invited to attend a regenerative urban farming workshop in Osaka last week at the Osaka Innovation Hub.
The link of the event can be found here - only in Japanese:
【リジェネラティブ アーバンファーミング ワークショップ- 循環型社会を実現する 「食と農」の新産業づくり -】@大阪イノベーションハブ
The 3.5 hour panel discussion and workshop covered the emerging trend of urban farming in a city environment - highlights from case studies and existing food eco-systems in Japan and abroad. I especially aligned with community farming in Italy and the pizza gatherings (essentially amazing food parties in my mind) they have with the food that comes from the farm.
We all are spoiled quite a bit to have so much food choice to choose from, but this is also a challenge at times because we are bombarded with too much information.
There are many interesting movements for food, and it's not easy to put everything in this article. However, I am most curious about how Japanese working professionals are taking care of their bodies, as I'm mindful of what I eat and drink.
I have never felt better in my life after realizing that really, what you eat really matters and affects your daily life and performance. I think this really comes from the fact that I grew up playing tennis, dancing, swimming, skiing etc. and food as a source of energy was of extreme importance in my family.
Thankfully, I have found some cold press juice stores and this is so helpful with my digestion and detoxing.
One of my favorites:
Do people cook at home? Do younger kids know where ingredients come from? I assume that the US and their food deserts are significantly more severe / scarcity of fresh fruits and vegetables for example.... but Japan seems to be losing a lot of tradition in terms of eating "well" at home, but I am unsure and would like to find out more.
What I do know is that Okinawa is one BLUE ZONE that we should be proud of.
Are there best practices that could be brought into an "urban" context like Osaka?
What about the other suburban areas surrounding Osaka?
As I speak to friends who are not native to Japan, they seem to have interesting ideas about the food culture from their homes that could add value to local communities in Kansai.
Looking forward to more interesting workshops like this in the near future.
