The smell of freshly cooked pasta with tofu ragù greets visitors at Milano Ristorazione’s bustling kitchen, where over 80,000 school meals are prepared each day. A short cycle through the outskirts of the city brings them to Cascina Campazzo, an urban farm in the South Milan Agricultural Park showcasing how Milan has managed to preserve farmland within its urban boundaries. For the cities of Bury, Greater Manchester, and Glasgow, the Cleverfood study visit to Milan was not just a tour, it was an immersion into a city that has placed food at the heart of its sustainability agenda.
Elisa Porreca, Food Policy Officer at the City of Milan, traces the city’s journey back to the 2015 International Expo. “The question was: what do we leave to the city as a legacy? That’s when we realised, we needed a food policy as the entry point to keep working on these issues,” she recalls. What began as a response to the International Expo has evolved into an integrated approach linking school meals, local agriculture, food waste reduction, and social inclusion.
Learning together
The Cleverfood study visit brought Bury, Greater Manchester, and Glasgow face-to-face with Milan’s ambitious approach. Strong political leadership, clear governance, and cross-sector collaboration helped the city move from individual initiatives to a coordinated strategy that puts food at the heart of local sustainability and social justice efforts.
Convening actors working on the same issues and creating spaces for exchange eventually led to innovations
What impressed the visiting cities most was how Milan successfully balances top-down municipal services with grassroots initiatives. For instance, Milano Ristorazione, the municipal catering company, not only serves nutritious, affordable meals but also works with schools, parents, and children to co-design menus and reduce waste. Meanwhile, the Food Aid Hub, a community-driven project, recovers surplus food from markets and redistributes it to those in need, transforming what would be waste into solidarity.
“Convening actors working on the same issues and creating spaces for exchange eventually led to innovations like the food aid hubs,” says Porreca. “We started with four hubs, and now we have eight, all linked and equipped with tools to monitor their impact – something that nobody would have imagined just five years ago.”
For the visiting cities of Bury, Greater Manchester, and Glasgow, Milan’s example showed how food can serve as a foundation for wider sustainability goals. The city’s use of public procurement to support local farmers and its success in reducing food waste through collaborative hubs offer replicable models. The idea that food is a shared responsibility – where every actor, from farmers to schoolchildren, plays a role – stood out as a guiding principle that can strengthen any local food strategy.
Food is everyone’s business
Milan’s food policy rests on five main pillars: access to healthy food and water, sustainable production, food education, reducing food waste, and fostering research. “We didn’t follow the food policy like a Bible. Instead, we started from what was already happening in the city, listening to the needs and requests of local organisations,” explains Porreca.
Milan’s communities of practice – yearly gatherings of stakeholders ranging from food banks to educators – have been instrumental in shaping priorities and sparking innovation. By blending these elements, Milan has made food a lever for climate action, urban-rural connections, and community empowerment.
We didn’t follow the food policy like a Bible. Instead, we started from what was already happening in the city
The school meal programme is one of the most visible successes of this approach. Through innovative menu planning, progressive pricing models, and redesigned canteens, Milan ensures that 95% of children have access to a hot, nutritious meal every day. Visiting cities were particularly inspired by how the canteen redesign, creating a more welcoming dining space, has reduced food waste and improved children’s wellbeing.
Challenges on the road to success
Milan’s journey hasn’t been without challenges. Building a department from scratch and coordinating with a wide range of stakeholders required perseverance and creativity. “We started as a very small technical team, just three people. Today, we’re a full department with around 40 staff, but getting here took years of effort and strong political commitment,” says Porreca.
Funding and long-term political support remain ongoing hurdles. EU projects such as Food Trails and Cleverfood have been crucial in enabling Milan to innovate and scale up its initiatives. “Having people paid to work full time on food issues makes all the difference,” Porreca explains. “European funding has helped us not just maintain momentum but also prove the impact of what we do, something that’s critical to continuously gain support in a changing political environment.”
Coordinating between multiple stakeholders and sustaining political backing are ongoing tasks. National governments are often disconnected from what cities are achieving, a gap that Milan hopes EU initiatives can help bridge.
Having people paid to work full time on food issues makes all the difference
Europe’s role in nurturing Local Food Systems
Porreca believes that the EU can play a greater role in supporting city-led food policies. “When cities are recognised and supported as innovators, they can go further and faster,” she says.
Milan’s story underscores the importance of direct funding, capacity-building, and stronger EU–city collaboration to scale up local innovations. By treating food as more than just a commodity, Milan offers a blueprint for urban food transformation. The lessons shared during this visit will continue to inspire cities across Europe to turn food systems into engines of resilience and inclusion.
