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Eco Hero: Katy Davidson

Sally Hill | 08.09.10

When you think "youth" and "food," you are more likely to envision an obsession with fast-food burgers than you are a dedication to organic produce and sustainably-harvested fish -- unless you're Katy Davidson.

As the founding leader of the Youth Food Movement UK, Katy sees the future of food and farming -- which to her means the "realigning local and regional food systems with the principles of justice and sustainability" -- very much in the hands of young people. And in Youth Food Movement UK, she has the young people to prove it.

Leveraging her skills as the former leader of Slow Food Cornwall and from her current role as a marketing and PR manager at the Eden Project, Katy launched Youth Food Movement UK to give young people a platform for making a difference in the food world. They mesh fun and social conviviality with eco-gastronomy to create change.

Pleasure, music, taste, and art lead experiential activities celebrate and affirm the positives in our food culture, while highlighting and challenging the issues and injustices are also made central. Members participate in events around the country, engaging the public with their SkillShare programme. YFM UK welcome volunteers who would like to get involved at all levels of the organisation and if anyone wants to set up a regional group then they can get in touch and YFM UK will help set you up!

You can meet Katy and the team from YFM UK at this weekend’s Bristol Organic Food Festival, where they'll be running the Kids Taste Experiece between stand P19 and P7 in Millenium Square. They will also be running SkillShares where people can have a go at a variety of foodie skills.

As if Katy isn't busy enough, she also runs ‘Mangez-Moi’ a vintage styled oyster catering concession and master class service showing restaurants and individuals how to shuck, cook and appreciate oysters. As Philip Lowery of Real Food Festivals recently said, ‘What Katy doesn’t know about oysters could probably be written on the inside of an oyster shell!’ . Katy is determined that the oyster will become both popular and revered and that the ‘snot’ and ‘swallow it down in one’ myths will be banished for good!

How would you describe yourself?

An eco-socio-gastronome! Which roughly translates as someone who loves the planet, people and food!

What is your mission?

To engage people in a fun and social approach to food as an integral part of our culture and society.

What do you care most passionately about?

Oysters. ;o) I care passionately about a healthy relationship with food and therefore our planet and each other.

What inspired you to start the Youth Food Movement?

I ran Slow Food Cornwall for four years and was always wondering where other people my age were and why they weren’t getting involved. In the summer of 2007 I instigated a youth oriented event in SFC to try and encourage young people to get involved. We had a hog roast on the beach with free surfing, live art installations, music and games.
The following November I attended the Slow Food International Congress in Mexico where a group of students proposed the concept of a Youth Movement within Slow Food. It was accepted and welcomed by Carlo Petrini, leader of Slow Food International and I joined these students in making the YFM a reality. I set up YFM UK on my return and have gradually built it up from myself at my kitchen table armed with a phone and a laptop to a dedicated group of volunteers around the country with hundreds of members.

What’s the next big challenge for the movement?

The next big challenge is making it sustainable. We have brought YFM UK to the stage it’s at over 2.5 years with no funding; just the passion and dedication of our small team who are magic at making things happen!
We have just applied for charitable status and are very hopeful about this going through. This would enable us to apply for a variety of funding to ensure that the costs of the team are covered as so far it has come out of individuals’ pockets. This is why I have such high hopes for the movement as it inspires such commitment and harnesses the passions of a generation.

What top green principles do you live by?

Be part of nature not apart from it. I like to keep my carbon footprint and waste as low as possible. I believe this can be done using traditional methods alongside exploring wonderful concepts like biomimicry which is a new science of production and processes that looks at the oldest thing in our lives..nature.

What do you eat at home?

Oysters that I get from a local farm here in Cornwall grown in the Camel Estuary, Porthilly Rocks are divine! Oysters are also one of our most sustainable and healthy sea foods. I catch a lot of my own fish so those diminutive tigers of the sea grace my plate quite often; mackerel is one of my favourite fish and when you catch it yourself you can be completely confident about experimenting with sashimi dishes as well as the obligatory BBQ! In the past I was called a ‘meatatarian’ but my growing knowledge of the industry over the years has meant a decreasing appetite for quantity. I now insist on quality. I also have quite a few farmer friends in Cornwall and get some lovely mutton and Dexter beef from one of them! We are developing a campaign within the YFM UK inspired by my own coming to terms with eating less meat of better ethical and taste quality; it is simply called 'Quality or Quantity' as with most initiatives within YFM UK we like to take a positive angle rather than one of sacrifice and negativity. This campaign plans to raise awareness of the pleasure and sense of connectedness that eating meat as a special and less frequent occasion can bring. I’m a big believer in the importance of ritual in our lives as it tends to refocus us on things that are important and brings us back to our ‘here and now’ dropping out of the stream of bustling society and taking time to really deeply appreciate things. That’s why the Sunday Roast is something I’m very fond of as it encompasses all this.

Why is organic important to you?

Organic is important to me because it strips our methods back to one that works in harmony with our planet and on a grander scale of identity, society, spirituality and culture, I believe that a lack of this connection and harmony is one of the core illnesses of modern society. No other creature, plant or ecosystem damages its environment as humans do. With the natural world there is zero waste, no pollution and everything works symbiotically. I also believe that that connection is something that engenders a sense of identity and a place in the universe for each of us.

What one thing do you wish everyone would do?

I wish that everyone would take responsibility for our food culture and become an active part in changing it. Stand up and let you voice count. As Ghandhi said with no need for improvement 'Be the change you wish to see in the world'. I always remind my self, if these kind of requests sound melodramatic, that food is one of the most fundamental things we ‘do’ or ‘are’.

Who is your Eco Hero and why?

Prince Charles. He's so steadfast and engaged with so many projects and everything he talks about comes back to a really simple but essential theory of that connectedness in life. With his privileges he could so easily be a spoilt buffoon, caring only about crown jewels and status; I think he's a gem!

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organic food festival, oysters, katy davidson, youth food movement