During COP30 in Belém, the Sociobio Restaurant provided meals made with local family agriculture ingredients, serving about 52,000 plates to participants. The unprecedented initiative emphasized healthy, sustainable, and solidarity-based food concepts. In total, 100 tons of food were purchased from over 50 agroecological organizations.
The COP30, the UN conference on climate change held in Belém (PA), featured the Sociobio Restaurant in the Blue Zone, a restricted access area. Structured like a university cafeteria, the venue drew daily lines of Brazilians and foreigners for a R$40 buffet, including a main dish with unlimited refills (except proteins), juice, and dessert.
According to the organizers, 4,000 meals were served per day during the 13 days of main activities, totaling 52,000 plates. The restaurant operated for five weeks, starting before the delegates' arrival to serve assemblers and volunteers, and is estimated to have provided 80,000 meals overall. The initiative directly employed 85 people and involved purchases from over 50 community agroecology ventures.
"The receptivity was incredible," reported Luis Carrazza, zootechnician and executive secretary of the Central do Cerrado cooperative, which along with the Rede Bragantina executed the project. He highlighted the pillars of healthy, sustainable, and solidarity-based. Kamyla Borges, projects coordinator at the Instituto Clima e Sociedade, explained the sociobioeconomy concept: "For us, this concept is about having a whole set of production that values the standing forest. And by valuing the standing forest, it values those people who produce in that way".
The menu included pirarucu, lamb, Marajó buffalo, cupuaçu juice, and umbu candy, reflecting Brazilian cultural diversity, according to anthropologist Maurício Alcântara, co-founder of Instituto Regenera. The Na Mesa da COP30 initiative coordinated with the Brazilian presidency the commitment that at least 30% of food in official spaces come from family agriculture via the Food Acquisition Program.
Maria Jeanira Pereira, president of the Pará Orgânico association and supplier, hopes for continuity: "This to strengthen small farmers, because often we have a product and no commercialization space". In the global context, food systems account for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, while in Brazil the rate reached 74% in 2024, according to Seeg, due to livestock and deforestation. Small producers supply 70% of the country's food diversity, promoting practices like agroforestry that preserve biodiversity.