We've arrived to the ending of chapter four, 'food'. Like I did before in chapter two, I'm going to analyse my blogposts and place them in the Quality of life model of Felce and Perry. The model knows 5 domains of wellbeing; social, physical, emotional, material and development + activity.



According to Felce and Perry 'food' can only be placed in the material wellbeing. This chapter I discovered that this is not the case!

Made by Humans
The 'Made by Humans' campagne of fashion brand Armed Angels is an example of emotional wellbeing. In their campagne they draw attention to the invisible workers at the back of the fashion industry. By using a clever ad they confront us with the ridiculous cheap prices in the fashion industry. This has effect on the way you feel buying clothes. Knowing Armed Angels is trying to change something in the fashion industry, makes you buy your jeans with a clear conscience.

Are you sure that's food?
Articles about foods that aren't food show us the truth about the things we eat. This is something that effects our physical wellbeing. All those chemicals and artificial flavors they put in our food can't be healthy for us. If there's no one to show a good example about what (and how) we should eat, we'll never learn. Luckily there are: You wouldn't see any food blog, magazine or recipe using these kind of ingredients, ever. Yay for healthy, fresh and real food.

Trash decides what's on the menu
Pop-up restaurant Instock is a great example that can be placed under 'development + activity'. Eating at Instock is a great way to support sustainability regarding food. It is a solution for food waste and it makes you aware of the problem. It can also be placed under 'social wellbeing', since it is a restaurant where you eat together with friends or family. 

Six months without supermarkets
Supermarkets control a lot of the food we eat. Gerrit Jan Groothedde wrote a book in which he shows us alternatives for food-shopping. This is an example of material wellbeing, because it's about the quality, the reliabitily and the freshness of the food we buy. Buying local and eating fresh is becoming more and more important for our health.

Urban farming for dummies
This one is a tricky one to place in the Felce and Perry model. Or is it the opposite: really easy? Urban farming is about growing your own food, getting your hands dirty and building your own greenhouse! (development + activity/material wellbeing) But it's also about wanting to eat food without chemicals. (physical wellbeing) It brings our neighborhood together (social wellbeing) and most of all it's really fun to do. (emotional wellbeing) Is urban gardening the solution for a perfect wellbeing? According to the Felce and Perry model it is!

Transparency and honesty is something we all long for, says Don Tapscott in his presentation about the four principles of 'The Open World'. Not only in the food sector this is a subject worth mentioning but also in other sectors it's becoming more and more important. In my previous blogposts one thing became clear: we want to know more about our food. Where is it from, how is it made and what is actually in the food we are eating? 

A lot is happening in the food industry, but it doesn't stop there: the fashion industry is changing too. Small initiatives are creating it's own voice. For example clothing libraries like 'De Kledingbibliotheek' or 'Lena-Library' show us that fashion doesn't have to be at the expense of people and the environment. Fashion can be conscious.

Bigger fashion chains are also making a difference. The brand Armed Angels is introducing their new campagne "Made by Humans" in which they draw attention to the invisible workers at the back of the fashion industry. The entire line is certified organic and fair trade!







By using a clever ad they confront us with the ridiculous cheap prices in the fashion industry.

"Both knowledge and intelligence are power." Tapscott says. Empowerment is important for this industry. The growth potential for this has to be big. Without it, it will become worse and worse, not only for the people working in the factories, but also for out planet and in the end: for us all. Hopefully the future shoppingcentra will be filled with brands like this!

I really love this initiative and I would definitely want to buy a pair of jeans from this brand, except for the fact that 99 euros is way to much for one piece of clothing for a simple student like me. Luckily there are a lot alternatives for me to get cheap clothing and still be conscious, like the clothing libraries! Go consciousness!

Do you ever think about what you are really eating? A lot of foods that might look like food aren't actually food. Let's face it: Some things you should just not put in your mouth. Filled with chemicals, artificial flavors, artificial colors and a lot of ingredients you probably can't even pronounce. I found an interesting article that shows 19 foods that aren't food.


Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” — Michael Pollan

When I started googling this subject it seemed like every food blog or online magazine has written an article like this. Does this mean we are finally really acknowledging the crap (excuse my french) we are eating? There were a few products that made an appearance in every article so let me show you the products you want to avoid eating:

Chocolate milk that isn't chocolate milk
"Take a closer look: That's not chocolate drink in your hand, not chocolate milk. Yoo-hoo doesn't actually contain any liquid milk, but it does come with a dose of partially hydrogenated soybean oil (hello, thans fat!). We dare you to get even halfway down the ingredient list before shedding a chocolate flavored tear." (www.prevention.com)
I think chocolate milk made of 'chocolade' powder isn't that good. I can't even imagine how this is going to taste. 

Eggs that aren't eggs
"Real eggs contain one ingredient. Egg substitutes contain 20 ingredients. After eggs, the next ingredient is a proprietary blend of “natural flavors”." (Village Green Network)
Wow! I didn't even knew this product existed. I can't imagine you would want to use fake eggs, ew! 

Blueberries that aren't blueberries
"What goes best with fake maple syrup? Fraudulent pancakes, of course. Read the tiny print that says "with imitation blueberries", and you'll be dying to hear how to fake a fruit. Here's the secret: take some dextrose, fractionated palm kernel oil, flour, citric acid, cellulose gum, maltodextrin, artificial flavors, two types of blue, one part red, and you're set!" (Huffington Post)
Do I even have to say something about this? As a fruit lover it makes me cry that this product even exists. Never underestimate the taste of fresh fruit, yum!

I think articles like this show that we're getting more and more conscious about what we are eating. It also links to 'The Open World', because if found almost the same article on various websites. It's a subject we want to share our knowledge about. 

If there's no one to show a good example, we'll never learn. Luckily there are: You wouldn't see any food blog, magazine or recipe using these kind of ingredients, ever. I think this is a good sign and a step in the right direction. Hopefully this consciousness will only grow bigger in the next upcoming years. Recent trends linked to this subject show us it will: transparency and 'sharing is caring'.