Blog: How We Made the People of Funen Unite Against Food Shaming

Written by Pernille Redder,
Event Editor, TV 2/Fyn

It may just be a matter of eating eggplant or eggs but, for some reason dietary choices have become a controversial topic among Danes. This is the story of how journalists at TV 2/Fyn constructively tried to de-tabooize the relationship between vegans, carnivores and everybody else who eats food.

“We have decided that ‘live events’ is a journalistic platform.”

Have you noticed how many labels have come into use in recent years to describe our elected diets? A few years ago I had never heard about a flexitarian. Let alone a lacto-ovo-vegetarian. (This is a person who doesn’t eat meat but will happily gulp down milk and enjoy eggs). Maybe it happened around the same time as we all started using hashtags on Instagram?

Who knows, but at TV 2/Fyn the journalists in our newly founded editorial team dedicated to arrange journalistic events decided that this was not just a topic worth exploring. It was a topic that was just perfect for bringing constructive journalism out in “the real world” as we aim to do once a week. We have decided that even though we still run a TV station (with a website, a Facebook Account, Instagram, YouTube and a newly setup podcast studio mind you), we also want to bring IRL into a play. We have decided that “live events” is a journalistic platform. One that requires our users and viewers to leave their homes and turn off their phones in order to experience it.

So, this is what the team did:

We contacted the local streetfood market in Odense, “Storms Pakhus”, and asked if they wanted to partner up with us. Our dogma is: We want to play with those who want to play with us. We don’t pay them they don’t pay us, and the participants don’t pay to participate. Luckily, Storms Pakhus were game. They reserved a few tables for us and helped take care of the practicalities.

“The video was released on Facebook and it exploded. 776 comments and more than 45.000 views”

The team then contacted a celebrity chef from our island who is known for speaking his mind. He subscribes to the mantra that food is meant to be eaten and enjoyed. Not used as a mean of judgement and hostility. Perfect. He was more than happy to participate.

Next phonecall was to a futurist. Maybe she could talk about what all this judging and foodshaming is actually about? And maybe, she has an idea where it might all end up. Once again, the team was lucky. The futurist accepted the invitation.

We were two for two and the event was happening. Next up was the small matter of actually getting people to attend. The team set up the Facebook event and edited a short video which was meant to be shown in our TV newscasts. It simply stated the topic, the location, date and time. But we also wanted to ignite the debate and prove that foodshaming is a very real thing.

Many ideas were tried and tested but we ended up with a very simple solution. We asked the members of TV 2/Fyn Event’s Facebook group “Den Fynske Redaktion” (845 members) what they thought about vegans and what they would ask a vegan, if they could. And then we created a video with a young, vegan woman, as she answered the questions from the Facebook group. The headline was a stroke of brilliance: “I like meat, but that’s not a reason to eat it”. The video was released on Facebook and it exploded. 776 comments and more than 45.000 views. That’s way above average.

“Did we end food shaming that day? Of course not.”

So, how did it all go then? Pretty well actually. When the day of the event came we welcomed participants in all ages. There were vegans, flexitarians, vegetarians and even the CEO of a chain of steakhouses. The chef was great, so was the futurist. The participants met and spoke with each other and they told us in their evaluations that they had a good time and enjoyed being there. And the TV viewers at home also got a piece of the action when we showed them live footage from the event.

Did we end food shaming that day? Of course not. We don’t even know if we actually made a real difference to the participants or the viewers and users at home. But we are setting up at least 40 journalistic events all through out 2020. And 2021. And all of them are meant to unite the people of our island, make them think and spread the word afterwards that something new is happening. And we believe in even the very small changes. So maybe we’ll see you IRL? You’re more than welcome.

Do you want to check out and maybe even join our Facebook group “Den Fynske Redaktion”? 

Do you want to watch the video with Kimm the vegan?

Do you want the get in touch with the journalists at TV 2/Fyn Event? Send us an email – we’ll all be happy to talk with you.