There’s a growing consensus that our current food system is untenable.

Food production is a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions, and the increased demand for animal products has come at the cost of the ethical treatment of those animals. At the same time, small farmers are pushed out, unable to compete with large agri-corporations that dominate the market.

All these things point to one clear conclusion: it’s time for change. But what should that change look like?

That’s the question currently at the center of European food policy discussions. During the last European Commission’s tenure, several key initiatives for a more sustainable food system were put on hold amid widespread farmer protests. Recently however, the new commission was tasked with presenting its four-year vision on food and agriculture as soon as February of 2025.

For our Food Transition fellows, such as Katrien Martens, this represents both a challenge and a unique opportunity. Recently, for example, Katrien managed to get an unprecedented group of health and nutrition organizations to sign an open letter emphasizing the need for more sustainable and plant-rich diets, in the interest of public health.

This might just be the key to a successful food transition: bringing previously unheard expertise to the table. Because even though it’s often the disagreements that grab the headlines, the level of consensus among experts across domains is quite high, and a much needed counterbalance to commercial narratives. 

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Moral confrontations

For Katrien, a turning point in her attitudes toward food was reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals at age 15.

“It was just a “random” book my brother ordered for Christmas, so I had no clue what it was about”, she shares. “But it had a nice green look with some fun animal silhouettes on the cover, so I very naively started reading it.”

For Katrien, reading about the animal welfare and environmental issues our food production causes, made her seriously question whether she still wanted to eat animals. Naturally, she also discussed these concerns with those closest to her.

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“It doesn’t feel right being a finger-pointing moralist and blaming people around you, who you love and respect.”

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“You start off talking to your loved ones, trying to bring across your argumentation, and you expect people to turn vegetarian immediately afterwards or at least reduce their animal consumption”, she says. “But that's of course not necessarily how it goes.”

This put Katrien in a bind, one that many will recognize: wanting the world to eat less animal products on the one hand, but at the same time not wanting to be ‘difficult’ and find yourself in constant moral confrontations with friends and family.
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“You also just want to be human; you want to be a good friend, or a respectful daughter”, Katrien explains. “It doesn’t feel right to compromise on that, by being a finger-pointing moralist and blaming people around you, who you love and respect.”

For a long time, this meant Katrien was a lot more moderate in speaking out on her belief in plant-based food with those near to her.

“I would often not even bring up the point of being vegetarian myself”, she says. “I would leave it to others or stay silent. But that also felt wrong, because you start to wonder if you’re not abandoning your own beliefs by not standing up for them.”

Building coalitions

The Food Transition Fellowship provided Katrien with the chance to contribute meaningfully to an issue close to her heart, without having to strain her personal relationships.

"Participating in the fellowship feels like a breath of fresh air”, Katrien shares. “It allows me to go beyond the impact I would have convincing people one-on-one, and all the complexities that come with that.”

Her fellowship work centers on building coalitions in the food sector — a complex task, given how interconnected food is with health, culture, and the economy. While most agree change is needed, consensus on specific solutions — such as fermentation products, cultivated meat, or plant-based alternatives — remains elusive.

To take on this challenge, Katrien has been placed at an organization with a good track record with this type of work: Madre Brava, an environmental action group championing the protein transition. 
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“Their starting point is very much from an environmental perspective”, Katrien explains. “But they also often work in coalitions with organizations in other fields that have something to do with food, such as animal rights or consumer protection.”

For Madre Brava, Katrien with her background in supply chain consulting and stakeholder coordination, was exactly the type of talented professional they were looking for.

Katrien elaborates: “They were mainly looking for someone with the mindset to coordinate complex collaborations — someone used to bringing different parties together, structuring projects, and energizing a group to push topics forward.”

Our food system in the balance

The type of work Katrien will be doing is particularly timely, because the future of Europe's food system is being decided on right now.

Following the European parliamentary elections last summer, a new Commission was appointed in November. Recognizing the urgent need for reform, President Ursula von der Leyen tasked the new Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Cristophe Hansen, with presenting a European vision for the next term by February.

“In the new mandate, the Commission has to prove that it has a clear plan for the future of food and agriculture at the European level”, Katrien explains. “We need to start taking action to set the food transition — whatever that may be — in motion.”

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“Everything we do now can help bring about a vision that benefits all of society, instead of just a few big companies”

Historically, European budgets and policies have heavily favored animal-based foods over plant-based — as evidenced by 80% of the European agricultural budget sponsoring the livestock industry, leading to artificially low prices for meat and animal-based products. Now, the goal for the fellows is to expand the conversation by bringing in a wider range of stakeholders — citizens, health organizations, and environmental advocates — to ensure that policy reflects the broader public good.

Katrien: “Everything we do now can help build pressure to ensure that the new vision prioritizes health and sustainability, and incentivizes large industry players to be a part of the solution.”

Taking a stance on health

While Madre Brava typically approaches food system change through the lens of sustainability, policy transformation often requires building bridges between different perspectives.

Katrien’s recent work showcased this approach, when she succeeded in rallying a group of health groups — that together represent millions of patients, doctors, and nutritionists — to speak up on food policy. A significant achievement, as most public health organizations have typically stayed away from food policy advocacy, and those that have tried have been heavily outnumbered by corporate lobbyists.

"Health organizations often avoid policy debates because these discussions can become polarized," Katrien explains. "They offer neutral research data, and are not as used to standing on the barricades together in order to be heard in political discussions."

Nevertheless, public health is extremely connected to food policy, and experts’ views are sorely needed. Dr. Milka Sokolović, director general of the EHPA, points out:

“From a public health perspective, our food system is a ticking time bomb — in addition to the enormous issue of unhealthy diets severely impacting people’s health, it remains the case that more than 60% of antibiotics are used in animal farming. We’re not only accelerating antimicrobial resistance, but also creating the perfect conditions for future pandemic.”

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“Organizations from many member states and many backgrounds have signed on to say: We support this.”

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‍Together with fellows Matthijs Germs (BirdLife Europe & Central Asia) and Johanneke Tummers (PAN International), Katrien took on the task of rallying health experts to advocate for a more plant-based food system. 

The first step was getting the health groups to take a clear stance. To this end, they wrote an open letter to the European Commission on the importance of integrating preventive health considerations into food policy, rather than spending the majority of their budget on treatment. And to Katrien's delight, the letter ended up being signed by an unprecedented number of health groups from all across Europe.

“As far as we’ve understood, this is the first time that European and national health organizations from so many member states — France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Poland and the Netherlands — have united for food policy at this scale”, Katrien says. “A wide range of organizations, focused on diseases from diabetes to cancer and cardiovascular conditions, have signed on to say: ‘We support this.’"

The next step? Hosting a high-profile event in the European Parliament to bring policymakers and experts into direct conversation. Because ultimately, the goal isn’t just individual actions like letters or events — it’s creating a long-term network for influencing policy change that prioritizes healthy and sustainable food.
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Food transition now

Katrien emphasizes that her work on the health coalition would not have been possible without her co-fellows, Matthijs and Johanneke.

"It was really special to see how, as fellows, we could strengthen one another and amplify efforts through our different organizations”, she describes.

This collaboration reflects the fellowship's core vision: a network of 12 ambitious idealists, strategically placed in key organizations, realizing collective impact beyond what any of them could achieve individually.

The fellows are for instance also playing a crucial role in advocating for the Plant-Based Action Plan, aimed at increasing the market competitiveness of plant-based foods. While previously the European Commission has shown little appetite for subsidizing and promoting plant-based foods to the extent that they do so for animal products, fellows are now trying to change this. This involves participating in a collaboration of almost 100 NGO’s (and counting) from diverse sectors that support the Plant-Based Action Plan, but also potentially starting a citizens’ petition to bring the voices of European citizens to the table. 

Outcomes like letters, coalitions, and events might seem immaterial, yet they represent vital steps toward depolarizing discussions and aligning all stakeholders in the transition to a better food system.

Because while motivations may vary — some advocate for the planet or animals, others for consumers or farmers — all of us need the food transition to begin sooner rather than later, and that starts with everyone sitting down at the table.