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'. 

Have you ever heard of dumpster diving? Dumpster divers are people who live from trash. It might sound weird but think about how many food ends up in the trash, especially by supermarkets. A lot of the food that gets thrown away isn't even rotten, but it simply gets thrown out because it doesn't look that pretty or may have a brown spot here or there. Dumpster divers are people who take food that is still eatable out of the trash. It is cost-effective and it minimizes waste.

There is no denying farmers markets are back to being cool. A healthy lifestyle is trending and we want our food to be local and fresh. We're back to growing vegetables and herbs ourselves and urban gardening is cool like never before. Although there are a lot of initiatives to get your food local we still rely on supermarkets. There's a lot more we need than just vegetables and fruits right? Did you ever asked yourself why there is an alternative for greens, but not for all the other stuff?









Main reason we love supermarkets is of course the convenience of it. All the things we need in one place, what's not to love? Gerrit Jan Groothedde (aka 'de eetschrijver') thinks otherwise. He wrote a book about supermarkets vs the alternative. When the writer moved to Almere Buiten he noticed that this 'City of the Future' has a great lack for alternative and local food. He challenges himself into not buying food in a supermarket for six months.
In his book he writes about his confronting conversations with (among others) a master chef, a culinary journalist, a food trendwatcher, a sustainability activist and asks for the 'normal' people's opinion. I haven't read the book myself, but it makes me very curious. I wonder what his discoveries will be in his food-life outside the supermarkets.


The great thing about this book that it is really transparent and a good example of 'the open world' we live in nowadays. Groothedde compares supermarkets not only in their price range but also in quality and their offer in products. He shares his discoveries about a range of different products but mainly focussed on vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy. 

The things that makes me really want to buy the book is that he shares a practical buyers guide in which he shows you all the alternatives for supermarket-shopping.


The book is for sale at bol.com for €19,99. Click here more information.

Welcome to the fourth chapter of the year: food! I have a feeling this is going to be my favorite one. Do I even have to explain why? Let's kick this chapter off with a subject which might seem familiar to you: urban farming!

source: The Pretty Blog, pictures by Christine Meintjes

Urban farming is making it's comeback and presenting itself in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It's getting more and more attention and there are countless organisations for getting involved or doing your own gardening. Countless (food)bloggers are giving urban farming a try. For example 'The Pretty Blog' who wrote an article on growing herbs and using them in recipes. 

In chapter one I already gave you three reasons why urban farming is super awesome. I talked about the increased awareness of chemicals being used on vegetables and fruits in the food industry - a bad side of the open world because people are becoming more and more suspicious about the origin of their food. With urban farming you can make sure your own greens will be the healthiest ever! I myself used to have a little greenhouse on my windowsill with herbs. I loved taking care of my little plants but by my lack of knowledge about the herbs they all died in the end. I tried many times, but all the plants ended up dying every time. So the problem of this DIY vegetable trend is a lack of knowledge. To make this sad story a little bit happier I want to introduce you to "Rauwdouwers".

Rauwdouwers DIY packages

Rauwdouwers is a company where you can buy seeds and get started with your own vegetable garden. But why pick this one over all the other organisations who are alike? Let me explain to you why rauwdouwers is the best of all! The cool thing about Rauwdouwers is that you will learn with small steps. Every month you'll get a package in your mailbox with seeds and a manual that learns you all about the 'what and how' of the plants. The cherry on top is the design of the manuals. Cool little books decorated with great illustrations give you all the information you need so that your plants are fail-proof. If you think that is great.. there is more! The books also contains little experiments, puzzles and recipe. How amazing if you can successfully grow your own vegetables and make an awesome dinner with it, all by yourself!

We can say for sure that urban farming is a booming trend. It still has a lot of growth potential because of the authenticity of it. People want to know more about the origin of their food. Growing your own gives a guarantee on fresh and chemical-free food. Do you still haven't got your own urban garden? The time to start is now! 

Society Nine is a brand for every female fighter founded by strong, empowered, diverse female athletes who are fighters in and out of the ring. 

The idea started out of frustration with the lack of quality equipment available for women.
"Manufacterers think that taking the lowest-quality glove and turning it pink is what we need. I'm here to tell you that this way of thinking is dead wrong" says Lynn Le, the brain behind the project.
She created Society Nine for the female fighter who trains in combat sports, and to also represent the every-female fighter in our lives, across all sports.

Like I talked about in my previous blogpost the average women now a days isn't just a woman. She's a friend, a teacher, a sister, a student working two jobs and above all a fighter. A fighter in the literal sense of the word (let's keep it to boxing, shall we?) but also figuratively speaking: a woman that can take the world! This clothing line is especially made for these strong woman.

"We want to create a movement and community that unites strong, empowered, diverse, fierce woman who are fighter for more than physique. We are the brand for this community of badass woman"




The collection starts with a glove. If you go to google and image-search for "womans boxing glove" you'll find a collection of girly pink boxing gloves (just try it!) But according to Lynn, most of the woman's boxings gloves aren't at all adapted to the needs of woman.

The team behind Society Nine studies every boxing glove on the market to understand how they were constructed, what materials they used and how they fit. Next they asked different woman in sports (professionals but also amateurs) to their opinion and with that feedback they made their first design.






I think it is great that people like Lynn start projects like this. Gender equality is definitely not where it's supposed to be in the world of sports and this is a step in the right direction. I hope woman will feel empowered to do whatever they want to, even if it's in a mens world. The Kickstarter for this project is still running and they are already halfway to their pledged goal.

For more information, a sneak peak of their collection and the progress of the Kickstarter check out this webpage.