City profile for Amersfoort
V-Day@eetstee
De Eetstee is an organic restaurant situated in the historical centre of Amersfoort. It is the initiative of a young chef that took the challenge of catering to good food amateurs at reasonable price using mostly local organic products and offering vegetarian cooking 3 days per week. Questioned on the emulation his initiative created in the restaurant offer of Amersfoort, the chef stressed the success of De Eetstee. The restaurants need for organic ingredients caused an evolution of the offer of certain suppliers (e.g. wine) but for the moment not many competitors followed in its tracks.
BROODJE van de STREEK
Via public tender the catering of the town hall restaurant is 95% sustainable, with special emphasis local food products. A small market of organic rĂŠgional products is even proposed in the restaurant itself. Broodje van de Streek, Sandwich of the Region is a new action focusing the introduction of a sandwich/lunch dish of pure,
Landwinkel
Landwinkel is a national organization supporting farmers in opening shops at the farm gate. Landwinkel works as a co-operative, pooling products from local farms so that each outlet offers not only its own products but all the products from the local network. Landwinkel also provides commercial and merchandizing support (i.e. brand, packaging, shop design, information and advertisement material‌) greatly facilitating farmers' access to having their own shop.
VoedselKollektief Koppelpoort
VoedselKollektief Koppelpoort food collective has around 120 members. Members can order vegetables and fruits every Tuesday that the collective buys from local farmers. Members pick up their order every Thursday. All members help by doing some tasks.
Het Derde Erf, Community Supported Agriculture
Het Derde Erf is a community supported agriculture (CSA) project located in a farm on the outskirts of Amersfoort. Members according to their willingness and availability are taking part actively in the cultivation and harvesting of vegetables for the weekly baskets as well as in the collective management of the CSA. Other volunteers, such as overworked employees seeking stress relief, also help with the cultivation. The farmer and the members see this collaboration as a positive and satisfactory experience from the point of view of social involvement to quality of the food. Although the economic model remains below the breakeven point for the farm: despite the manpower provided by the volunteers, the farmer sees CSA more as a hobby than a profitable activity.
Echt Eten in de Eemstad
Echt Eten in de Eemstad is a group of initiatives to promote sustainable and good food in the city. It included Mini Moestuin coach, the mini kitchen garden coaching with the participation of 325 families, some schools and a total of 1100 kids about growing their own vegetables and herbs in their own 1 m²-garden; Smaak van de Streek, a quarterly seasonal farmer market promoting good products and traditional food coming from local producers; Mobiele Keuken, a mobile kitchen to organise collective cooking events in the field; De Boer op visits of farms; Foodtrails to visit by bicycle some of the local food producers; Eetbars Amersfoort supporting citizens initiatives, etc.
Hoofdstad van de Smaak 2012
All along this year, the designation of Amersfoort as Hoofdstad van de Smaak, Capital of Taste is the occasion to organise a large variety of recreational, educational and popular activities focusing on healthy and honest food, with a pure taste, and an emphasis on regional products. Amersfoort and the surrounding municipalities of the region will focus in particular on one product, the potatoes to discover all it's refined and gastronomic aspects. Hoofdstad van de Smaak 2012 culminates with the Week of the Taste in early October.
De Boerenstee - multi-functional farming
De Boerenstee is one of the many different examples of multi-functional farming. The farm nice location allows it to welcome tourists in a bed & breakfast. Part of the unused farm buildings have been refurbished into hotel bedrooms and a new large space has been build with restaurant facilities to host conventions and seminars 'in a green context'.
Stad zoekt Boer - City is looking for farmer
In 2007 and 2008, the city of Amersfoort organized large stakeholder conferences called "city looking for farmers" to kick-off match-making between farmers near Amersfoort and initiatives on sustainable food within the city. This process results in around 140 'matches' from early contacts to the kick-off of collaboration projects on sustainable food supply, health, education, recreation or business‌
Self-Maintenance Contracts
Self Maintenance Contracts give citizens of Amersfoort the possibility to take charge of one piece of public green space. More than 150 contracts are currently established, mainly small allotments and some larger ones up to the case of an entire public park self-managed by inhabitants living nearby. The municipality also employs one day per week a so-called ‘Green Brokers' who play the role of multi-purpose facilitators for the population to engage in initiatives around sustainability, greening the city and growing food. The change of the Self Maintenance Contracts legislation from allowing only decorative plants to allowing growing food for instance enables inhabitants of the building in the picture above to plant fruit trees on the public space between the buildings, engage in their maintenance and leverage on this initiative to revitalize social life between the inhabitants‌