Je Suis L Assiette Belge

I am the Belgian plate 1

I am the average plate. A few words to make you understand better: I contain 138 g of fresh vegetables per day. Nutritionists consider that 500 g of fruit and vegetables per day is a good amount.

You also have to know that in Belgium, we import 60% of our vegetables, sometimes from really far away. Studies have shown that the contents of my plate have sometimes travelled 2000 to 2500 km before reaching your table. I don’t follow the seasons anymore: strawberries in February, lettuce all winter…

I am really rich in animal products: more than 600 g per day, including meat, cheese and dairy products. Because of all that, I am full of bad saturated fat.

I am a banana 1 I come from different South American countries. You can find me in all the supermarkets of the world. I am cultivated on very large fields where a lot of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used.

With my sisters, almost all of us are commercialized by only 3 multinationals. These big companies decide everything. The peasants who cultivate me have nothing to say, they work very hard, they don’t have the right to strike and become sick because of all the toxic substances poured on me.

But I’m very pretty and I’m the cheapest!

I am a North Sea shrimp 1 I’m rarer than before, but you can still find me. I don’t live far away from you, but I’ve travelled a lot to join your plate! After being fished in the North Sea, I am sent by road to…Morocco to be peeled. Why? Because the workers cost less over there! And who cares about all the kilometres my truck will have to drive to go back to Belgium…

I am a zucchini from Kenya 1

I need a lot of water to grow. I am cultivated by small farmers to which I don’t bring any profit. I am exported to rich countries so that they can eat zucchinis all summer and all winter.

I travelled 6000 km before reaching your plates. I travelled by truck, by boat, by plane… And even though such a long trip is exhausting, I am still very pretty.

I am a lettuce 1

In winter, I am cultivated in a heated greenhouse. I am very pretty; they spray so many pesticides on me that I don’t have any marks or insects on me anymore. They feed me with water soluble fertilizers.

If you take transport, greenhouse heating, pesticides and fertilizers into account, they used one litre of oil to produce me and bring me to your plates. I am a juicy piece of beef 1

Full, minced, reconstituted or however you like it. I was produced in industrial breeding provoking a few environmental problems: they don’t know what to do with my flatulence and excrement.

I am a big water consumer (25 000 litres to produce 100 g of beef). Nowadays, I only eat vegetable proteins (soybean, manioc, cereals) which are intensively produced by Southern countries. I also eat some fish, but that’s a secret.

If I am a cow, I need between 7 and 10 kg of cereals and legumes to produce 1 kg of meat. For pigs, this proportion is 4 kg to produce 1 kg. The cattle of Northern countries eat as much cereals as all the inhabitants of India and China put together.

I am advertising 2

I am creeping everywhere: at your place, in your body, at the deepest of your soul, I am transforming you into a pure consumer or even a purified one. Purified from all bothering waste and from all critical thinking.

I am building a flourishing world of abundance. The dream is now reachable; you just need to buy it. I am helping multinationals to sell their products. In fact, I am educating you; I am teaching you what you should do when you are facing difficulties in your lives. Thanks to me, you are taking good resolutions: I should be called “Information”, “Communication” “Permanent education”! I am an agrifood multinational 2

I produce a lot and I am present in many producing and consuming countries. Thanks to me, people find jobs! I have branches in a lot of countries, where workers cost less and where I don’t have to follow the same rules as in Europe. I take decisions about everything: the quantity of fertilizers and pesticides used in the crops, the workers’ salary and the working conditions. My main objective is to create profit for my shareholders.

I am active everywhere in the world, without worrying about the populations or the environment. My big profit is partly used to finance advertising, which helps me sell all my products. It enables me to convince people to eat a lot of meat product, even if it’s not good for their health. It also enables me to sell exotic products all year long.

I am the WTO 2

The World Trade Organization. I am an international organization which nowadays has almost 150 member states, but 30 new ones are knocking on my door.

My father is the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and my mother is the trade war. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank are my friends. We share the same dream: to have as much freedom as possible in international movement of goods, services and capitals. That’s why I suggest, for everyone’s benefit, to remove all the obstacles to the economic booming of the world market: import taxes, quotas, bureaucratic regulations about social rights and environmental protection. I am the IMF 2

The International Monetary Fund. I help states as a responsible person.

My services are especially needed by the poorest. They have to devote a substantial part of their budget to the reimbursement of their debt. But they often have difficulties to do so, so my friend the World Bank and I allow them to spread their debt in exchange for a small Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). The program consists in the application of different measures to stabilize the economy and public finances. To this end, I plan for instance to reduce expenses in the public sectors, or even better, to privatize them and block salaries. You know, these things can only help…

Support to export crops is often a prerequisite. These crops are very profitable and therefore beneficial to countries in debt. Of course, if the poor countries want to take advantage of the financial benefits of these export crops, they should give up their traditional crops.

I am your favourite supermarket 2

When you come visit me, you can buy anything you want, and even what you never thought about! I make sure all your desires are fulfilled. I’m here to make your life easier. You don’t want to cook? I planned everything: ready-made meals for all ages, already cleaned fruits and vegetables, prepared sandwiches, cookies and other types of food already portioned out, precooked, pre-chewed or even pre-digested!

I do everything I can to seduce you: strawberries in winter, asparagus in summer, beef from Argentina and kangaroo from Australia. I travel around the world just to please my dear customers (and my shareholders – but that’s only between you and me). Just a few kilometres are nothing compared to all the money we can earn! I also make sure you receive my best offers and discounts: chicken for 2 euros, leg of lamb for 5 euros! Isn’t it great?? I am oil 3

I am really useful and even absolutely essential for human beings, at least I was for the last century. I heat houses, I make cars move, I am used to producing plastic and packaging. I am the origin of hygiene products and laundry detergent.

Furthermore, intensive farming in the Northern countries and more and more Southern countries completely depend on me. I am essential to produce chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and of course as fuel for the agricultural machines and for transportation.

The problem is that when you burn me, I produce greenhouse gas. Be careful, my reserves are running out! The first reductions have started and the end of reserves is planned for 2040. Are we ready to face that situation?

I am water 3

I am the seas and oceans’ water. I am not as clear as before. I am getting warmer and more acid. The rivers and the sewers flow into me. The chemicals they carry pollute me and contaminate my inhabitants: fish, cetacean and flora, many of which are already in danger of extinction, and Man!

When some of my water evaporates, clouds form and move over the land. And when they become rain, the water catches all the polluting dust that floats in the atmosphere and brings it to the ground.

Moreover, icecaps are melting and the sea level rises more and more. I am Pamela 3

I am English and I suffer from obesity. I have to admit I eat a lot of hamburgers, crisps, coke, and chocolate. How I love chocolate bars! And television is my favourite playmate!

I’ve been told I eat too much fat and sugar and that it’s bad for my health. But what can I do? I don’t like the taste of vegetables!

I am the climate 3

I have a fever! Well I mean, I’m hotter and hotter. I mostly change due to the effects of greenhouse gases. I cause storms and tsunamis more and more often.

In the past, climate changes used to occur over millions of years. It’s now much faster thanks to progress!

Only a few million people are now complaining. Those who risk being drowned: in the Netherlands, Bangladesh or in Tuvalu. And those who experience more and more droughts: in Ethiopia, Australia, or even Spain. It’s about time the others worried as well! Mainly the rich ones, those who inject the most carbon dioxide… I am José, from France 3

I’m an organic farmer. I have much less than usual famers: less land, fewer machines, fewer animals, but also fewer debts and fewer worries about my health. No allergies to pesticides for me!

I also have much more: more animals and vegetables which are more resistant to diseases and which have a better quality.

I choose the way I run my farm. I have a nice contact with the consumers, more control over the quality of what I produce, but also sometimes more difficulty selling my products.

I am Pedro, from Costa-Rica 3

I’m and old peasant and I grow bananas.

I can’t have children anymore as I have breathed too much of a specific pesticide while working in the fields. The truth is that, in Central America, we use pesticides which are forbidden in Europe as they are dangerous for health and the environment. I’ve learned that more than 25 million farmers are poisoned by pesticides each year.

When we work in the fields, company planes fly above us and pour pesticides on the bananas. They are then also poured on me. I have no protection equipment and I am poorly paid, but I don’t have much choice… I am the ground water 3

I am Belgian and I don’t feel very well. Nitrates and other pollutants make me sick.

Above, no one seems to worry about it!

They use me so much to feed their impoverished soils that I feel a bit worse every year.

I am Ernesto, a Chilean fisherman 3

I live in the surroundings of a big city in Chili but I have nothing: no house, no land, no job. My children are hungry.

Our people fish a lot but, every day, every Chilean exports 100g of animal protein for the cattle of the Northern countries. Here, one child in five is underfed.

I’m an interdependent buying group 3

I give the opportunity to small consumer groups to have access to organic or home-made products directly from the producers and this for a reasonable price.

I am the link between city-dwellers and country people, between consumers and farmers. I support a neighborhood farming. I am Augusta, a Belgian citizen 3

I live in a small flat in town. I try to manage with my social allowance but it’s not a piece of cake! So I buy 2€ pizzas at…., 3€ lasagnas at….., and you can get a 1€ ice cream at…. And for me, all these stories about mad cow disease, dioxin, pesticides, etc. sound like a joke to me!

Food is expensive enough already and organic food is just for rich people!

Eating is eating!

I am Wambe, a child from Kenya 3

I am 8 years old. When I get up in the morning, I fear I won’t find anything to drink during the day.

Even though there is water in my country, it is not for us. 70% of the water in Kenya is used to water flowers and vegetables such as beans and zucchinis for Europeans. I am Georgette from Belgium 3

I am a farmer.

It is harder and harder to make a living and feed my family. I sell my vegetables according to the seasons. With all the products that come from far away ant that you find all year long, people don’t want to buy mine anymore.

I try to grow little and supervise quality, but it is not easy.

I am the air of the Earth 3

Available for all human beings and animals, you are breathing me many times every day. I’m feeling more and more heavy, opaque, full of greenhouse gas, pesticides, metals, acids.

My deterioration is mainly due to heating and industries. Transports are also playing their part: every second truck on the road is travelling for our food! I am a dense tropical rain forest 3 I am a so-called « primary » forest. I am quite special thanks to my incredible biodiversity: only one hectare (10 000 m2) can contain up to 200 different tree species, more than all the Belgian species! But man is destroying me because he needs more and more space.

If this tendency continues, I am going to disappear. The reason for this is that he needs to feed cattle so that the inhabitants of the rich countries can have their daily amount of animal product: more than 600 g per day!

You need to transform one hectare of forest in pasture to be able to feed one bovine and obtain 1500 hamburgers. If we converted the entire Amazon basin in pasture, we could feed the world population with hamburgers for one month, not more! The forest would be irremediably lost, the ground worn-out and the biodiversity destroyed. Is it really worth it?

I am Georges, a Belgian farmer 3

I am 56 years old. I am a farmer from the province of Luxembourg, in Belgium. I have a small farm and it’s getting more and more difficult to make ends meet: I have problems selling my animals, I don’t get enough money for my milk and I’m always being controlled.

It’s becoming harder and harder to respect the standards. My friends producing cereals or vegetables are telling me it’s really difficult for them as well. Nowadays, it’s impossible to produce in Belgium at the same price as in Argentina, Kenya or Poland.

I am trying to maintain the quality of my products, but it’s really difficult. I am De Santos, a Brazilian child 3

I am 8 years old and my name is De Santos. I live in Brazil.

I am one of those children who don’t have enough to eat. There are many agricultural lands in my country though, but most of them are used for cereals and soy crops. But they’re not for us. These proteins are exported to rich countries to feed their cattle. The Brazilian crops are partly used to feed 40 million western pigs.

If all the cereals and legumes of the world were used to feed humans, we would be able to feed twice as many people in the world.

And I forgot to tell you that in my country, 10 000 children die from malnutrition every year. I hope I won’t be one of them.

I am Vandana, an Indian activist 3

I am Indian and I fight against multinationals which steal our seeds.

Seeds are life; they are a gift from the age-old dialogue between our peoples and nature. We refuse to lose this heritage.

Multinationals come to patent our seeds and then we have to buy them once they are genetically modified. This will make us more dependent and thus poorer. I am Rosibel, an activist fromEl Salvador 3

I am the coordinator of the women movement in El Salvador. My struggle for more justice and better working conditions is really hard.

Our region is a paradise for the investors of rich countries. Our low salaries and our working conditions put us in competition with your workers. That’s why I would like to unify our struggles. A really cheap product in Europe means a lot of profit for multinationals, a lot of unemployment in Europe and a lot of exploitation here.

I am Valérie, a really busy mum 3

I am running all day long between work, kids and the kitchen.

In my fridge, ready-made meals are making my life easier. Pre-cut, pre-spiced, pre-chewed, pre- squeezed, pre-digested, pre-liquefied, pre-aged, pre-pre-prepared.