Food: Bigger than the Plate — exhibition at the V&A

Nature truly is a wonder, a masterpiece, and I don’t think we value it enough. Everything that’s existing as a part of nature has its own perfectly set out purpose and is an important part of the circle of life. We are a part of this circle, a very important part actually – but we live and eat as if we weren’t. This needs to change. Change can’t just happen, there needs to be an underlying desire that’s creating and pushing for it to occur.

In turn, this desire needs to grow from an understanding of the “why”, and probably also the “how”. Why do our ways of living and eating need to change? How can we make that change? What can I do? Both the why and the how are about learning and now is the perfect time for that to happen. The exhibition “Food: Bigger than the Plate” is taking place at the V&A in London until October 20th, and I suggest everyone go and take a look, Why? Well, here are three of many reasons!

1. It makes you think about the natural circle of life

The exhibition takes you through a journey with three main stops: trading, farming and eating. Along the way it’s perfectly clear that sustainability (and the lack of it) is the red thread binding them all together. The exhibition allows your brain to process each stop at a time yet simultaneously you start to understand the whole picture. We as humans should exist as part of nature, but unfortunately we try so hard not to – especially in Western societies.

2. It increases your knowledge about sustainability

You might think you know well enough about the harm of mass production and environmental threats, but I can promise that you’ll walk out of there knowing even more. This exhibition really makes you THINK – “how can I do better?”

3. It makes you think how your way of eating affects nature and other people

Eating isn’t just about YOU, at least it shouldn’t be. What we buy, what we consume and what we eat are all things that we should be aware of and care about. Although it might have a direct effect on you, it also has an indirect effect on both nature and other people – especially farmers. If we keep buying and eating unhealthy and mass-produced food, we will create even more modern diseases and we’ll ruin the very ground plants grow from. Destroying our planet also puts people out of work and income, something you’ll contribute to if you’re being unconscious about what you eat.

Food: Bigger than the Plate, doesn’t tell you what to do or how to eat, in the end it’s all up to each and every one of us – but it makes you question yourself and your habits. If we keep ruining our planet with chemicals and harmful waste, there won’t be any naturally grown, nutritious food in the future, more farmers will lose their jobs…and we’ll have a nutritionally deficient next generation of children, (including our own) now we don’t want that, do we?

You can purchase your tickets for Food: Bigger than the Plate exhibition from the V&A website. Costs are £17 or £19 with a donation. There are also student and family discounts whilst entry for carers is FOC. The V&A art and design museum in London is located at Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL – which is within easy walking distance of South Kensington Underground Station – in close proximity to Sloane Square, Gloucester Road and Knightsbridge. What are your impressions about this exhibition; have you considered how your food choices and what you eat affects our world? Let us know in the comments below and follow the conversation on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.