EF Tours Leadership Summit in Milan

After sleeping off my jet lag and getting back into the routine of normal life again, I've had some time to reflect on my food journey! The last stop on my trip was a leadership summit that was focused on the solutions to food sustainability, and it was a humbling experience to listen & learn about what all of that meant.

I was lucky enough to hear from keynote speakers like Stephen Ritz, Ray Patel and Anthony Bourdain, all of whom had amazing perspectives on what food means and what it brings to the world.

The goal of the summit was to get me -along with 2,000 other students from around the world- thinking about how we can make our food supply last longer, while considering our well being. We were split into teams of ten, and each team had to solve a problem concerning food. The goal was to create a solution that could be turned into a prototype, so that the rest of the summit could see past the idea and determine whether or not the solution was creative enough to fit the needs of the problem.

Along the way, we were given opportunities to hear lectures, both thematic and leadership based, to help further our thinking skillls and character. I learned a lot about myself based on the workshops I participated in, and came up with many new ideas to start applying once I got back home.

My group's problem was finding fresh produce in urban areas, or any general area not likely to have fresh food available. Our solution (in short) was a compostable bin- The Green Machine- found in common places where trash cans are, that dispenses both soil and seed to its consumers.

Although my team's idea didn't win, it was still a really cool process to see our prototype come together in such a short amount of time. We all had to form a common ground and figure out what worked and what didn't, which seemed different than most school projects- possibly because it actually applied to real life!

This summit sparked lots of ideas for me, and I'm thinking of perhaps implementing some in this blog, because my writing reflects who I am and I want to make a change with my ideas! So what better way to do that then through my food blog? Stay tuned for some details following in the next few months as I plan out and execute my idea :)