Food Forever Global Exhibition

Food Forever is a campaign organised by The Crop Trust, which calls upon the global community to protect the vast, colourful spectrum of diversity within our food system. BGCI, in collaboration with The Crop Trust, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and The Leichtag Foundation have developed a Food Forever exhibition toolkit for botanic gardens interested in hosting their own Food Forever exhibition. Learn more about Food Forever.

Food Forever at Hortus Botanicus Ledien

Hortus botanicus Leiden was one of the partners working on the Horizon 2020 project BigPicnic in the years 2016-2019. This project BigPicnic brought together the public, scientists, policy-makers and industry to help tackle the global challenge of food security.

To keep this important subject on the agenda Hortus botanicus Leiden decided that food should be part of every activity when possible.

For 2020, plants from America are the subject in Leiden. In 2020 it is 400 years since the voyage of the Mayflower, which sailed to America with a group of English separatists known as the ‘Pilgrims’ on board. Before the Pilgrims made the crossing and founded the Plymouth Colony in 1620, they lived and worked in Leiden. Of course their food, and that of the Native Americans, were part of this story.

We choose from the Food Forever exhibition panels the subjects that fitted in with the rest of the information. As an example: On the topic of potatoes, there is a Food Forever panel on farmers in the Andes (Keeping Our Options Open). On the topic of cooperation, there is a Food Forever panel ‘Connecting areas of knowledge’. There are 36 information panels in the garden, mounted on triangular frames. But as the Hortus had to close down due to the Coronavirus Covid-19, the panels are presented online too.

The Food Forever panels in the Leiden exhibition have the Food Forever logo and a slightly different layout. On the first panel of the exhibition, the Food Forever panels are introduced. The Food Forever panels can be re-used after this exhibition, in Leiden or in one of the other Dutch botanical gardens.

The exhibition is expected to run at Hortus Botanicus Leiden until November 2020.