How can games help people connect with their neighbours, share food, and create more sustainable communities? The CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement, developed by partners including Wageningen University & Research, brings together practical tools, resources and games that encourage social participation in food-sharing activities.
From exploring the future of food sharing to caring for community gardens and discovering edible plants, these games offer creative ways to learn, exchange experiences and work together on local food-related challenges.
Exploring the future of food sharing
Food-sharing initiatives can strengthen social connections and contribute to more sustainable food systems. But how do these initiatives work in practice, and what challenges do they face?
The game The Future of Food Sharing invites players to explore these questions together. Using Quest Cards, Tool Cards and optional Risk Cards, players consider real-life challenges and discuss possible approaches to food-sharing initiatives. The game offers a practical way to exchange ideas and explore solutions collectively.
Finding common ground in community gardens
Community gardens bring people together around a shared space, but maintaining one also involves everyday decisions and challenges. The game Common Ground explores what it takes to care for a community garden.
Players consider topics such as teamwork, biodiversity, harvesting, climate pressure and soil health. By working through different situations, they can reflect on how to manage shared spaces, balance different priorities and care for the environment together.
Learning about food sharing through play
Food sharing can also be a way to introduce children to healthy eating, nature and community cooperation. In Grandma is Coming!, players work together to collect ingredients from a neighbourhood food forest and complete Grandma’s favourite healthy recipe before she reaches the end of the path.
Along the way, children learn about food forests, composting, healthy eating and the idea that food can come from places beyond the supermarket. The game combines cooperation and play with an introduction to more sustainable food practices.
Discovering edible plants and sharing food memories
How many edible wild plants do you know? The free print-and-play card game Let’s Eat invites players to explore the plants growing in their urban surroundings, share food memories and create recipes with their neighbours.
The game encourages players to get to know one another, exchange experiences and develop new recipes using wild plants found in the city.
Explore the Citizen Engagement Library
These games show how playful activities can open up conversations about food, sustainability and community life. They provide opportunities for people to share knowledge, explore different perspectives and consider how they can work together in their own neighbourhoods.
The games are part of the CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement, developed by project partners including Wageningen University & Research. The library brings together practical tools, resources and games designed to support engagement and social participation in food-sharing activities.
Would you like to try the games yourself? Explore the CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement and watch the tutorials to learn how to play and use the games in your own community.
The games were developed as part of the CULTIVATE project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (grant agreement No. 101083377).
