Press play to listen to this article
Voiced by Amazon Polly
Former celebrity chef Sarah Wiener’s entry into European politics last year could not have come at a more opportune moment.
The 57-year-old — often dubbed the “Jamie Oliver” of Germany — built her gastronomic empire around sustainable principles, and now has a front-row seat in the European Parliament as the EU seeks to remake the Continent’s food chain following the same concepts.
“I came into politics because of my love for good food,” Wiener told POLITICO in an interview.
Born in Austria, Wiener developed her culinary career in Germany, where she opened a chain of restaurants and cafés. She also hosted her own cooking show on the Arte and ORF television networks, as well as Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio, and has published a string of cookbooks.
But last year she traded in her A-list lifestyle in Berlin for a spot in the European Parliament, where as a member of the Greens, she’s now part of the powerful agriculture committee and also, on behalf of the group, will help shape discussions on the European Commission’s flagship Farm to Fork strategy for reforming the agri-food system.
Wiener said she decided to make the change because she felt the European food system was broken and consumers have no real choice over what they put on their plates.
“I can’t just say ‘this is all shitty,’ but I also have to ask myself what I can do for the better, not just criticize,” she said.
Wiener’s main point of criticism is that Europeans don’t really have the choice to eat healthy because the food chain — starting with industrialized agricultural production, through food manufacturing, to retail and advertising — is not sustainable and doesn’t focus on healthy and climate-friendly solutions.
“Our agricultural system goes where it’s the cheapest, the cheapest, the cheapest. Not the best, not the safest, no one thinks about the social aspects,” she said.
The Farm to Fork strategy, unveiled in May, aims to make Europe’s food system more sustainable through targets like cutting pesticide use and risk in half and increasing organic farming. Wiener said the strategy is a good diagnosis of the issues and a step in the right direction, but added that its implementation could be a “tough fight.”
“This is just a paper, just an intention … but it doesn’t mean that we have a legislative change and that we’re really looking forward to how we can make European agriculture and also the food system … more sustainable,” she said.
Wiener added that she expects a lot of resistance from agri-food lobby groups and EU governments. She also argued it’s crucial to link the strategy’s objectives with the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy, which can incentivize greener practices with extra funding for farming.
A major aspect of the current debate about greening the agri-food system is how to ensure farmers have enough funds to meet sustainability targets at a time when the coronavirus crisis has squeezed their bottom lines.
Wiener’s gourmet empire itself hasn’t been spared from the devastating impacts of the pandemic, with bars and eateries forced to shut down or operate at partial capacity in the name of public health: She recently had to file for insolvency for her restaurants and catering business.
She said her own experience with the pandemic has shown her that short supply chains pay off — an argument also touted by European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski. The MEP has her own organic farm, wood oven bakery and slaughterhouse, which she has used to make her restaurants almost fully self-sufficient. And she thinks that’s the model for how the European food system should operate.
“I feed my cows with my own grass, I have my own slaughterhouse with milk transportation, we have no-chemical substitutes in our sausages, so we’re completely independent to make meat and sausages,” she said. “Other huge slaughterhouses and [meat facilities] had a lot of problems because there was no transportation, the borders were closed, you couldn’t get this or that. Corona showed [the food chain] has to be regional and it has to be diverse.”
Another thing that she argues the pandemic has shown is that Europeans are longing for healthier food.
“During the corona crisis … people all over Europe started to want to have more ecological food. And also a lot of people started to cook and to prepare meals. The regional food shops and organic delivery chains — this was exploding,” she said. “There is a longing for controlling what you eat and to be sovereign in what you can get and who made it and how they made it.”
But at the same time, she says consumers still often choose less healthy products because they are influenced by advertising.
“You don’t eat McDonald’s because it’s so yummy and so healthy … It’s on the contrary: If you really choose McDonald’s or other junk food, you feel very bad half an hour later. It’s because there’s a lot of advertisement, of brainwashing, public propaganda that tells you you need that and it’ll make you happy,” she added.
Wiener believes if people were aware of the full story behind their food — how it’s produced and what chemical substitutes it contains — they wouldn’t actually buy many products.
She also insists that people should stop treating healthy eating habits — not eating too much meat, eating the whole animal and consuming more seasonal products — as a form of punishment or sacrifice in the name of improving the environment.
“Of course we shouldn’t eat like that 100 percent, nobody does that. I mean at least I don’t do it … because I don’t want to eat cabbage the whole winter,” she said. “You have to cook like you say: ‘Oh my God, it’s so delicious, why did I eat that crap before?’”
Want more analysis from POLITICO? POLITICO Pro is our premium intelligence service for professionals. From financial services to trade, technology, cybersecurity and more, Pro delivers real time intelligence, deep insight and breaking scoops you need to keep one step ahead. Email [email protected] to request a complimentary trial.
Click Here: cheap nrl jerseys