As part of the project “Caring for the Earth is Caring for Life”, a workshop at the supermarket challenged students to grapple with a question that is both simple and far-reaching: what does it really mean to make conscious food choices?

The day opened with a collective discussion aimed at framing the purpose of the educational programme: outings and activities not as a day out or a reward, but as part of a shared process of environmental education and participatory learning. Using a simplified participation scale, students reflected on their own level of engagement with the project and the topics they cared about most.

The heart of the workshop was a hands-on analysis of real products from their everyday diets: Pecorino Romano PDO, eggs, guanciale, fresh egg pasta, tomato sauce, Parmigiano, industrial pasta and packaged snacks. Armed with a food assessment sheet, students learned to look beyond the label and examine each product through the lens of origin, supply chain, degree of processing, environmental impact and nutritional value.

The exercise sparked some genuinely thought-provoking questions and observations: surprise at where certain foods actually come from – “why are these onions from France?” –, the discovery of additives and industrial processes hidden in seemingly simple products, and the chance to compare personal perceptions with the ratings provided by the Yuka app. One group even went as far as calling a producer directly to find out more about the origin of their product.

Within the “Caring for the Earth is Caring for Life” project, this workshop showed how food can become a space for learning and shared responsibility – where everyday choices can genuinely make a difference for the environment, for people, and for all living beings.