Let It Bean! Campaign

The Let It Bean! campaign

Let it Bean! is a collaboration between Slow Beans, Slow Food, Meatless Monday, and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future in the United States (CLF). The CLF has accrued compelling evidence for the nutritional and environmental benefits of legumes. (See the Beans Resource Center).

The collaboration was launched during Terra Madre 2020. The initiative’s main objective is to promote the consumption of legumes as a climate-friendly food, in collaboration with municipal authorities. 

 

Specifically, the campaign wants to:

  • incentivize municipalities to promote more sustainable and climate-friendly diets through the support of local bean producers.
  • increase the general public’s knowledge about beans, their nutritional properties and recipes through collaboration with producers and cooks in order to promote a behavior change towards diets that relies more on plant-based food
  • raise awareness about the Slow Beans network around the world together with the Meatless Monday initiative.

Who can join Let it Bean?

All municipalities interested in taking an important step towards a more climate-friendly diet by promoting the consumption of legumes.

 We invite farmers, cooks, enthusiastic activists and conscious consumers to join us and convince their local municipality to sign up to Let It Bean! and take concrete action.

Check out the menu below! 

Check-out our latest release on how Municipalities can act for achieving a climate-friendly in public canteen systems

  • Support production, valorisation processes and sale of local beans: 
    • Promote the mapping of local pulses and support their sustainable production, referring to the guidelines of the Slow Food Presidia 
    • Support the implementation of production by creating creation of new Presidia project, new Leguminous Communities and/or support for the implementation of participatory certification systems 
    • Dissemination of horticulture courses with a strong emphasis on sustainability and the role of pulses
  • Enhancement of beans as food closely linked to the territory: 
    • Inclusion of native varieties of legumes in the list of institutional gifts and in the shops of local museums. 
    • Nominate the variety on the Ark of Taste
       
  • Facilitation of touristic experiences and support in organizing local events: 
    • Hosting Slow Beans editions and/or invite to other events Slow Beans
  • Encourage the conscious consumption of  pulses as a food that is friendly to the climate, the soil, human health in canteens: 
    • Introduction of rewarding criteria in calls for tenders for collective catering, if they present a project to promote legumes in canteens.  
    • The Slow Beans network also makes itself available to develop education and/or communication paths in schools and other facilities (hospitals, RSAs, etc.), also offering sensory education courses, thanks to the extensive presence of educators and cooks in its network 
    • Adoption of Meatless Monday in schools and other facilities, again accompanied by an environmental and food education course
       
  • Support educational pathways on the topic of legumes with students from hotel and agricultural institutes.
  • Support the circular economy at local level: 
    • Creating social labs, permanent tables to stimulate the birth of integrated food policies where pulses have an important role, involving the Slow Beans network and all the actors that in a territory collaborate in defining food policies 
    • Sponsor Slow Beans stands at Earth Markets or farmers’ markets
  • Support networks of small-scale producers at the Ministries of Agriculture 
  • Promote this initiative municipalities associations  
  • Promote adherence to the Covenant of Mayors (PAES and PAESC) and the Milan Pact for Food Policies

How can I take part?

Let us know that you’re interested and want to stay updated by filling out a short form >>

Want to take immediate action?

Write to your local mayor’s office, asking them to join the initiative, by using this template >>

Remember to cc [email protected] so that we can give you all the support you need to run leguminous activities in your hometown!