How we deal with food has significant consequences for people, animals, the climate, and the Earth. At the same time, not everyone in Amsterdam has access to healthy food. With our Food Strategy, we want to improve this: less harmful impact, more equal opportunities for good nutrition, and thus for health. The Food Monitor shows how far we have come.

Food Waste

90 percent of Amsterdammers admit to throwing away food sometimes. Often because people have bought too much or prepared too much. In total, we waste 166 million kilos of food per year in Amsterdam. Amsterdammers are responsible for 49 million kilos of wasted food. About half of that is food that is still perfectly edible.

Unequally Distributed

While we waste a lot of still edible food, 9 percent of Amsterdammers often have too little money to eat a healthy meal. Among people with a low income, that is 25 percent. Of the unnecessary food waste by Amsterdam households and catering in 2024, more than 100,000 Amsterdammers could have eaten fresh products like bread, fruit, and vegetables for a year. But there are also more than 100 initiatives that combat food waste, for example by making meals from leftover food.

Unhealthy Food Everywhere

The environment you live in partly determines your behavior. If there is a lot of unhealthy food available in the form of snack bars, fast food, and supermarkets, the chance is greater that you will eat unhealthy things more often. No less than 84 percent of the food supply in the city is (very) unhealthy. It may not be surprising that more than half of Amsterdammers eat fast food weekly.

Plant-Based Eating

The food of Amsterdammers causes a lot of CO₂ emissions: about 1,750 million kilos per year. That is equivalent to 12 million flights to Paris. Animal products cause the greatest environmental pressure. We want Amsterdammers to obtain an average of 60 percent of their proteins from plant-based sources by 2030. According to the monitor, Amsterdammers are currently at 48 percent plant-based. This is higher than the national average of 43 percent.

In Which District Do People Eat the Healthiest?

According to the Nutrition Center, it is healthy to eat at least 250 grams of vegetables and 2 pieces of fruit every day. Many Amsterdammers do not achieve this.

• Residents of the districts Centrum and Oost eat slightly more than average sufficient vegetables (35 percent and 37 percent) and those from Zuidoost eat less (19 percent).
• Residents of the Zuid, Oost, and West districts eat 2 pieces of fruit per day more often (respectively 37 percent, 35 percent, and 34 percent) than those from Nieuw-West (28 percent) Noord and Zuidoost (both 29 percent).

Want to Know More?

The monitor has explored many more topics. Read it yourself:

• Food Monitor
• This is how we eat in Amsterdam
• Food Strategy