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2.7 The government’s participation 
The Finnish government has also recognized the importance of food and food culture.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry 
of Employment and Economy and Finland Convention Bureau all work together for 
promoting Finnish food culture .There are more and more ongoing projects and re-
searches being conducted concerning food and food culture. The foundation is in the 
fact that an independent country must ensure the supply for its citizens but it is clear 
that all food related projects and strategies affect directly travelling industry. Ministry 
of agriculture and forestry state their vision in “Food for Tomorrow - Proposal for 
Finland's National Food Strategy” as follows: “Our vision on food for tomorrow is 
that in 2030 the Finnish consumers eat tasty, wholesome, sustainably produced and 
safe food. Consumers have the ability to make informed choices. A transparent, highly 
skilled, flexible and internationally competitive food and service system responds to the 

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demand. The growth and advancement of the sector find support in well-coordinated, 
high-level research and development.” (MMM 2012) One indication of the importance 
of food culture is that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-
zation (UNESCO) included food culture in Unesco World Heritage List in 2008. (Ru-
okatieto 2010) 
While Finland is now rapidly experiencing growing interest towards food, other coun-
tries around the world have already been dealing with foods new more visible role for 
longer. The signs are similar in many countries: TV offers more and more cooking 
shows and cooking competitions. Celebrity chefs are the new faces of everything possi-
ble from grills to spices and plants to pots. TV shows from news to reality shows have 
chefs participating in them. One could claim that chefs today have expanded into all 
sections of society and they can nowadays even have political power. One example of 
making political statements and change and make public old-fashioned structure is Ja-
mie Oliver’s “School Food Revolution”. Jamie Oliver actively encourages the children 
themselves to take action and demand better food in schools. In Jamie Olivers case he 
has convinced already over 800.000 people globally participating signing an online peti-
tion for Food Revolution. (Food Revolution 2013.) 

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