The Impact of Sustainable Food Systems on Quality of Life: Innovating Hospital Food for Health, Healing and Well-Being of People and Planet

The way food is produced, sourced and consumed influences multiple dimensions of quality of life (QOL). Governance of institutional food supply chains (those serving hospitals, campuses or schools) not only impacts material welfare and perceptions of wellness of internal stakeholders, but also interrelates with external organizations, communities, and the environment. Changing their governance through integration of sustainability values—re-localization, justice, environmental integrity and more equitable economic development—allows for more nutritious, safe and just food, that positively impacts QOL of stakeholders through their health, livelihoods and cultural values.This case deals with Nourish, an innovative social marketing initiative for making food systems sustainable in Canadian health institutions. Nourish aims at developing a national community of practice that empowers leadership across sectors to create a future where food is valued as fundamental for health and healing. Interventions encompass market, psychosocial and policy aspects: (1) Demand: empowering a cohort of innovators who make purchase decisions in hospitals; (2) Supply: promoting relationships with diverse producers of sustainable, local and traditional food; (3) Policy: fostering policy support for food for health; and (4) Social ideas and behaviors: fostering a narrative that values the interconnections between food, health, healing and well-being of people and planet.