Almost half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, whilst nearly three-quarters of global freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, and food industry account for at least one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The food on our (plastic-free, compostable) plates has far reaching impacts and is such a key element for greening lifestyles and by extension – also events as transformative spaces for human behaviour change. Here’s the work we’ve been doing on food and feedin’ ourselves and you for the past 2 decades…
MEAT AND FISH FREE
80% of deforestation is for agricultural land, and of that land – almost three-quarters is used for livestock farming and growing livestock feed. For environmental reasons, we’ve been meat and fish free since 2016 – to spark the conversation about how our diet shapes the world around us. You can read much more here.
The estimated impact of taking meat off our menu is a massive 100 tonnes of GHG emissions per year! And in 2023, for the sixth year running, Shambalans overwhelmingly voted to keep the festival meat and fish free, moving forward. Even more incredible…. 33% of you reporting reducing your meat and fish intake since the festival – as changing human behaviour and activities is crucial in climate change mitigation, this is A C E !
FOOD STANDARDS
For many years we have been taking significant steps to understand our food supply chain impacts, to move toward organic and regenerative sourcing, as well as providing good quality, variety and value for festival goers – a tricky balance. Our many food trucks onsite willingly work with us to adhere to serious food policies. They switched their menus from meat to plant-based, jump through ingredients and packaging hoops, and inspire us with their new solutions too!
All on-site food traders are required to:
- Offer only plant-based milks for hot drinks – see our Gone Off Milk Report here.
- Serve majority UK or European fruit & veg, and only Fairtrade bananas.
- Use only or organic eggs, as free-range are no good.
- Only serve Fairtrade (or equivalent) tea, coffee, hot chocolate and drinks.
- Agree to not serve any Coca-Cola or Nestle products on site.
- Only use non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products.
FOOD IMPACT LABELLING
We have been experimenting with food labelling since 2018, to create an evidence based and shared awareness around food impacts. Our quest is to move toward ‘one planet plates’ – low impact and ‘fair/equitable’ meals based on 0.5kg CO2e per meal, a global measure set by WWF research. And we’re nearly there!
In 2018/19 over half our traders opted into a trial to use a food carbon calculator and displayed labelling on their menu boards. We also did a detailed analysis of our crew food with the provider. Learning the real impacts of food has motivated many of our partners to design menus differently!
In 2023 our food traders worked with Klimato, to assess and display labelling for their dishes – keep an eye for scores on menus this year. In future we aim to assess and label 100% of meals, to enable us to track our overall festival food footprint, and enable festival goers to make choices.
INSPIRATIONAL TRADERS
We recognise cafes that achieve the highest standards with our annual ‘Inspirational Trader’ awards. These are folks who are ultra-energy-efficient in their cooking, or doing inspirational things on land and farms they own or work with. See the 2023 winners here.
DRINKS
You won’t find mass-scale beverages on our site, and no single use plastic packaging either. We’re been partnered with our Bars for decades, and grown together to become more ethical each year.
We source alcoholic drinks as locally as possible, working with many local and small-scale brewers and distillers. We provide organic options for our main lager and around 30 ales! We work with companies that share our ethics, and our main volume lager comes from a brewer that has won awards for being the most environmentally sustainable beer producer in the UK. Your drink will be served to you in a reusable cup, and behind the scenes, waste has been almost completely designed out of the operation.
WHERE IS YOUR BEER COMING FROM?
91% of the beer you buy on site is sourced from within 70 miles of the festival (with 3% being from within 15 miles!). 86% of the beer on site (and 89% of the wine) is vegan. Delve into the nitty gritty of how we’ve been “Raising the Bar” here.