Indigenous Food Policy Summit: New York set a global precedent

Indigenous Food Policy Summit: New York set a global precedent 

Claudia Laricchia

The Indigenous Food Policy Summit, held on April 21 at Hunter College and organized by the New York City Food Policy Center and Hunter College, has now concluded. What remains is a working model. Just days later, the question is no longer if this approach works, but how fast it can scale. SMILY Academy and Best4Food of the University of Studies Milano Bicocca, supported by G100 Indigenous Communities and Integration, have been selected as one of the best practices and we feel now all the responsibility and commitment to lead this process together with the outstanding organization we met.

A paradigm shift

The opening lecture by Sean Sherman was enlightening and catalytic. Sean is an award-winning chef, educator, author, and activist. A member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, he is dedicated to reviving Indigenous food traditions through his Minneapolis restaurant Owamni, the nonprofit NATIFS, and cookbooks like the fantastic new book Turtle Island.

His reconstruction of colonial food systems exposed how deeply today’s global food model is rooted in extraction: imposed ingredients, erased ecosystems, and disrupted identities. But more importantly, he showed the alternative. Decolonial food is a conscious practice. One rooted in biodiversity, traditional ecological knowledge, sovereignty and self-determination.

New York, long a crossroads of Indigenous peoples from across the world, demonstrated a systemic vision where urban food policies need the integration of the Indigenous Factor and this is finally already happening.

Institutions as catalyst of change

A defining force behind this transformation is Prof. Mark Chatarpal, Executive Director of the New York City Food Policy Center and Professor at Hunter College. His leadership reflects a rare alignment between policy and practice.

Walking through Hunter College with him revealed something essential: coherence. Programs that provide free food access to students are not side initiatives, they are embedded into the institution’s identity. Food policy here is not abstract. It is lived, daily.

In his words and actions, a clear principle emerges: institutions must embody the values they teach. This is where scalability begins. Because what has been built in New York is not an isolated pilot, but a replicable infrastructure, one where research, access, and governance reinforce one another. Think about Milan, with its reliable and global known Milano Urban Food Policy Pact.

Prof. Mark Chatarpal

Scaling the Indigenous Factor into urban food policies

Within this space, SMILY Academy, together with Best4Food, the Food and Technologies Center of the University of Studies of Milano Bicocca and G100 Indigenous communities and integration, brought a clear call to action: scale the integration of the Indigenous Factor into global food policy, now. Indeed we asked three main questions:

• what if we would define together the universal seed of the indigenous factor? Traditional ecological knowledge; holistic approach; land based education; agroecology and sustainable agriculture; community based solutions; resilience: these might be the first elements to define this factor;
• why should we integrate the indigenous factor into urban food policies? To contribute solving the climate contribution of cities whose effects goes to those who are less responsible for the consequences of pollution; for cities food sovereignty; for food access and security; for improving health; for food justice; for improving local food, seasonability; functional foods; nutritional values; approach through seeing land as a living being;
• how? Which is the call to action? SMILY Academy and Best4Food presented 10 key points related to the compliance of SDGs for creating a framework of this integration and make it easier in concrete into proposals like knowledge exchange; urban food governance; ancient strength characters designed by Sasa Bozic; urban food forests; food procurement; food policies as social and climate justice strategies.

Rituraj Phukan

Through the contribution of Rituraj Phukan, co-founder of SMILY Academy and Chairman of Indigenous People’s Climate Justice Forum, joining online from Assam from bringing lessons from the Eastern Himalayas. Specifically, the Mising communities are a functioning system: over 100 plant species, fermentation practices, seasonal cycles, and full food sovereignty. A bright example of the designed framework. The key insight that emerged is simple yet transformative. Scaling does not mean replicating, it means translating principles.

Locality. Seasonality. Biodiversity. Relationship with land as a living being

Indigenous food policies are living infrastructures. Their principles can be adapted across contexts, including urban contexts, and embedded into Food Policy Councils, funding frameworks, and measurable indicators. The main pillars to do that are justice; health and community. Indeed food justice means social and climate justice and must be integrated in those strategies too. Health and food as medicine is crucial to heal humanity and the planet. Community led solutions must be at the epicenter of policies as well marginal communities’voices must be back to the center of food systems governance.

Here, the role of Best4Food (www.bestforfood.unimib.it) proved essential, bridging Indigenous knowledge with scientific validation and ensuring that this integration is not only visionary, but actionable.

From policy to plate

Claudia Laricchia, Prof. Mark Chatarpal, Giovanni Quaratesi

Yet the most critical question remains: how does this translate into everyday life? Part of the answer unfolded beyond institutional walls, at Ribalta Restaurant (https://ribaltanyc.com/), one of the best and most awarded New Yorkers restaurants, where I met the owner, entrepreneur and chef, Pasquale Cozzolino. This is where we brought the challenge to its most concrete level: scaling food policy into the plate. Our collaboration dates back to circular menus designed with water footprint and greenhouse gas calculations, a pilot project developed, among others, with the Italian General Council in New York and the global platform I Love Italian Food. But this time, the shift went deeper.

Pasquale Cozzolino

Beyond sustainability and into meaning, responsibility, food leadership, integrity and justice. The idea of integrating the Indigenous Factor and decolonized food into a restaurant requires rethinking ingredients, supply chains, and narratives. It means asking where this food comes from, what ecosystem it represents, and what culture it honors. Each dish becomes more than nutrition, it becomes a regenerative act.

And this is where scalability accelerates. Restaurants are among the fastest vectors of cultural transformation.

If policy shapes systems, food makes them visible, tangible, and desirable. A global prototype.

What happened in New York does not stay in New York.

The Summit demonstrated that a new model of food governance is not only possible, but already operational, one where Indigenous communities co-design rather than being consulted, science validates rather than replaces, and cities function as ecosystems rather than just infrastructures. Through the convergence of SMILY Academy, Best4Food, and G100, a scalable framework now exists.

One that can be adapted across cities, from Milan to Toronto to Nairobi, Delhi to São Paulo.

The true innovation is systemic and it’s a purpose driven inclusive process. It lies in the ability to connect traditional ecological knowledge, scientific research, urban policy, and entrepreneurial action into one coherent flow. Now we scale: the Summit has ended, the work begins. What is needed now is implementation, starting from knowledge exchange, justice, health and community.

Cities must begin integrating the Indigenous Factor into their food policies. Universities must lead by example, as Hunter College has done. Restaurants must become laboratories of transformation. This model must be adopted, adapted, and financed.

SMILY Academy, together with Best4Food and G100, will continue building bridges across communities, institutions, and territories to accelerate this transition.

The question is no longer if, but who scales first.

SMILY Academy

SMILY Academy is the flagship platform of the Indigenous Peoples’ Climate Justice Forum, designed to co-create eco-business solutions addressing key challenges faced by marginalized and Indigenous communities in emerging countries. By bringing together outstanding talents and innovation, the platform supports regenerative, community-led initiatives that recognize Indigenous peoples as vital stewards of the planet, protecting 85% of global biodiversity while representing only 5% of the world’s population.

SMILY Academy promotes a new, bottom-up approach to international cooperation based on its 4D model: Decolonization, Democratization, Decentralization, and Decarbonization. Within just 22 months of its legal establishment in Italy, the Academy has launched eight strategic hubs worldwide, focusing on water management in Benin; youth leadership in Cameroon; waste management in Ghana; forests and biodiversity in India; renewable energy in the United States and Canada; superfoods in Brazil; and agri-food systems, food policies and food innovation in Europe.

Through its strong local presence, deep listening approach, multidisciplinary expertise, and intergenerational and international programs, SMILY Academy stands out as a unique and authoritative platform, making it an ideal partner for institutional stakeholders, the private sector, corporations, and academia seeking to amplify economic, social, and environmental impact.

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