Sustainable Eating Trends

This is largely thanks to the Norwegian government taking actions like publishing a new action plan entitled Food, People and the Environment that specifically aims at increasing the sustainability of the country’s food production. This plan covers goals to achieve in the food industry by 2023, with a large portion of these goals centered around how to put a bigger focus on environmentalism and sustainability in every aspect of the industry.

But what exactly is going to be done and what are we currently seeing people do across the country? To help answer those questions, here is a breakdown of the current sustainable eating trends being implemented.

Diversity in Food Production

While it may seem like there are a lot of different food options out there, most of our diets are surprisingly limited. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, about 75 percent of the global food supply is derived from only five animal species and 12 crops. This is quite surprising considering the fact that there are thousands of edible plant species throughout the world. Therefore, you can expect to see many different types of food starting to be produced more frequently across the Nordic countries as well as the rest of the world.

In fact, there are 50 future foods that Knorr and WWF-UK have declared the best types of food that should be more publicly produced all throughout the world. These are food species that either has vitamin-rich flowers, pest-resistant grains, drought-defying roots, or some other ecological benefit. Therefore, they are able to be grown in a wide variety of conditions, including the cold winter weather present in the Northern farmland in Norway, and can also contribute to environmentalism while sustainably feeding the Norwegian population.

Reduction in Soya and Fishmeal-Based Animal Feed

It is no secret that animal-based food production is less sustainable than plant-based food production. This is because it takes significantly more water, land, and other resources in order to take care of livestock as compared to grains, fruits, and vegetables. But with livestock being Norway’s biggest agricultural product, the amount of animal-based food production is not being drastically reduced anytime soon. Therefore, Norwegians are being forced to find other ways of making their food production industry more sustainable.

One of the ways they’re tackling this issue is by transitioning from soya and fishmeal-based animal feed. This is because both of these products make animal feed significantly less sustainable. Instead, they are starting to be replaced with algal, insect, and leguminous protein feeds.

These materials require far fewer resources in order to produce them and are able to deliver better results when being fed to livestock. And although they have only just started experiencing a slow buildup in popularity, they are expected to be used far more widely in areas like Oslo within the next few years.

Bigger Push for Organic Farming

The increased focus on environmentalism in the past decade has led to GMOs and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides coming under direct fire for their damaging effects on the environment. This has been good news for the organic farming industry, which has seen a sharp increase in popularity. The boom has even led to the development of a significant bio-farming sector in Oslo and the rest of Norway.

By avoiding the use of any synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilizers, this ecological farming is capable of producing the same amounts of food while minimizing the amount of soil compaction and erosion that occur. Therefore, a foodie is able to enjoy their delicious Norwegian food without worrying about whether or not there were any significant environmental consequences as a result of producing the ingredients.

To help further promote the production and use of organic food products, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority accredited the organization Debio as the place in charge of inspecting and approving all farms that wish to be branded as an approved organic food production source. Once someone goes to buy a food product and sees that Debio sticker, they will know that it is an organic product that they can trust to be produced sustainably.

Through these combined efforts, Norway is quickly becoming a leader in sustainable food production. If you are interested in Norwegian food and cuisine, check out some of our National Dishes, or one of our exciting Food Tours in Norway.