Romania is a country that has been in transition for over 20 years. The fall of communism has been met by a long period of rapid changes in society that affect all age groups. One of the areas faced with radical change is the food industry where people are bombarded with new products and new claims about healthy lifestyles that coexist and conflict with Romania’s traditional cuisine and historical close links to the countryside.

 Young people are bewildered by this, finding it difficult to put into practice their own choices and to cope with peer and personal pressures regarding body image. The case of one 16 year old who ended up in hospital having drunk dishwashing liquid that is advertised as the “fat enemy” is an extreme case which highlights a common problem – lack of information and targeted health messages for young people.

A project was developed to work with young people to develop new messages around nutrition and body image in the Cluj city area.

Over the course of six months nutrition and cooking classes where combined with filmmaking and photography to create a series of individual and collective visual pieces (short films and photographs) that present personal takes on the food, nutrition and lifestyle choices for young people.

For the first part of the project 40 young people took part in “open space” workshops on the theme of nutrition and photography/filmmaking. The met doctors, chefs, psychologists, photographers, directors and script-writers. Everyone contributed with their knowledge and perspective on the main themes of the project. In this was everyone began to think about how they are affected by nutrition problems and how misinformation and peer pressure can cause dangerous, long-term issues. The young participants caught a glimpse of what it means to be artist/author as either a photographer or filmmaker.

Next, for the young people to go into more depth and have some practical experience classes were organised on three subjects; filmmaking, photography and cooking and nutrition. At the end of the training period each participant submitted a personal project, as well as contributing to a group project.

The 40 young people who took part learn a great deal about the ins and outs of filmmaking and photography and have a better understanding of their nutritional needs. As a direct result of the project some have taken up sports, have acted as advisors in their families or at school. Some have even changed their studies from maths or computer science to social science or Cluj Art High School.

However the impact of the project doesn’t end there. The pieces that resulted from the project have been organised into a travelling exhibition that goes from school to school every two weeks in the cities of Cluj Napoca and Turda. Viewing the exhibition gives young audiences information about health issues in a way this is relevant to them, it challenges them to think twice and to question the messages they are bombarded with about nutrition and body image.