Thematic Areas

Abstract: In recent years, gastronomy has proven to be a particularly fertile ground for multidisciplinary research in the field of humanities, as it operates at the intersection of philosophy, anthropology, art, and social studies. Gastronomy, understood as an active and heterogeneous field of intertwining areas and knowledge about food, has found its place in research and education, proposing new frameworks where theory and practice are strictly interwoven and where the narrative dimension of experience is unavoidable. The questions raised by food are complex and require a thorough approach. In this context, creativity also assumes a crucial role. Over the past several years, the realm of art has increasingly delved into gastronomy, showcasing its significance on some of the most important international art stages, from Documenta1 5 to the Venice Biennale, along with numerous exhibitions and performances worldwide. Yet, the communicative and creative dimensions of the culinary sphere also manifest in contexts not traditionally associated with art. Here, taste, memory, and the manifold expressions of cuisines and traditions serve as mediums to express and narrate life experiences.

In this thematic session, we aim to explore how philosophers, artists, curators, designers, and other creative professionals reflect on practices and experiences around food. We seek to encourage a participatory and collective approach toward co-designing change and helping the development of a new, critical gastronomy.

Keywords: Aesthetics, Curatorial studies, Participatory Design, Speculative Design, Food Storytelling, Relational Aesthetics, Rural studies, Performance

Abstract: The current alarming environmental situation necessitates a change in vision, perspective, and priorities. Food systems are critical because they intersect with the environment in numerous ways, and their analysis is essential for building a sustainable future. However, current models of unending economic growth, coupled with functional political theories that justify perpetual growth, result in the industrial production of food surpluses that are wasted in vast quantities daily. Simultaneously, masses of consumers are targeted by advertising that portrays food as a habit disconnected from the environment in which it is produced and separate from the social and biological metabolisms it transforms. The desired ecological transition is, therefore a process that involves all actors and stages of the food value chain (from seed to plate).

This transition, which is increasingly encountering obstacles, necessitates a paradigm shift towards regenerative agriculture and a circular economy, where resources are used efficiently, waste is minimized, and ecosystems are regenerated. Who and how will implement the ecological transition in the way we produce, distribute, and consume food? Can we map what is still and unfortunately linked to the old vision of food, what is in a state of liminality, and what has already successfully changed? Is the ecological transition a good proposal but politically empty and, therefore, impossible to achieve?

Will the radical goals of revolutions help to achieve the change in perspectives and priorities that such an ecological transition requires? With these questions in mind, we invite scholars from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, such as agricultural studies, political ecology, ecological economics, sociology, environmental history, social studies of science, anthropology, activist researchers, etc., to bring their thoughts to the conference and reflect on the modes and scope of a shift in the food systems paradigm.

Keywords: Sustainability, Transformative change, Climate change, Regenerative agriculture, Circular economy, Liminality

Abstract: The topic of food choices, well-being, and health promotion through sustainable healthy diets and lifestyles is broad. It can be approached by several disciplines, including nutrition, medical sciences, food science and technology, social sciences and consumption behavior, neuromarketing, and cognitive psychology. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the concept of 'One Health' in 2017. This is a holistic, transdisciplinary approach recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. Thus, improving human (and planetary) health should consider several aspects of lifestyles, including healthy food eating, attention to mental health, virtuous consumption behavior, etc. Moreover, the promotion of health and well-being should consider individual diversity. It should be respectful and inclusive towards everyone, including vulnerable groups and minorities.

So, how can we promote human and planet well-being by considering different aspects of food perception? What innovative multi- and transdisciplinary methods that consider these aspects at different scales can be adopted?

Keywords: Food Perception, Food Choices, Sustainable Diet, Healthy Diet, Innovative Technologies in Food Systems, Fragmented Target, Consumption Behavior, Nudging

Abstract: Over the past two decades, media and popular culture have been inundated with images of food. Among these, there has been a significant increase in attention to sustainability, communicated through the rhetoric of 'happy farming', 'rural idylls', or conversely, 'agro-apocalypses'. In public debates on media power, some commentators and writers argue that these images have trivialized 'gastro critique' (also known as critical thinking in gastronomy) by offering little guidance to envision a way out of the crisis beyond individualistic slogans such as "vote with your spoon" or "do it yourself". Others hold more ambivalent opinions, emphasizing the potential of popular culture - including food media - to enrich people's awareness and political engagement and even encourage processes of policy change. The advent of digital platforms in media consumption has also ignited similar debates on the potential of media technology to enrich food culture. Some researchers argued that this evolution of media environments and the advent of social media, encompasses the merging of food consumption and production, expanding into a more comprehensive ecosystem. With a generally optimistic tone, these writers claimed that ‘platformization’ introduces novel modes of individual and social engagement, reshaping food activism, movements, and overall political implications of one's own action. With a more pessimistic tone, other researchers argued instead that the ‘platformization of culture’ has expanded the commodification of ‘the social’, reducing rather than increasing users and audiences’ autonomy and potential for empowerment. This stream aims to explore both debates about narrative strategies and about technological change in food media and communication, offering insights from a diverse range of national and regional contexts.

Potential topics might include:

Contemporary food representations in popular culture

Food narratives in food television

VoD platforms and new experiential environments for food media

Agency and structure relationships in food communication

Platformization and big data in digital food communication

The politics of algorithmic culture and consumer’s food choices 

Keywords: Food media, Platformization, Agency, Media politics, Popular Culture

Abstract: In recent years, the governance of food systems has emerged as a crucial challenge. Global food production has become a significant source of inequality among various actors actively involved in global food chains. These actors include states and non-state entities such as private business enterprises, NGOs, associations, individuals, indigenous groups, and local communities. Traditional legal structures and concepts struggle to grasp the complexity of this phenomenon as they are primarily linked to state boundaries. However, global food value chains impact human and animal rights, climate change, and biodiversity, to name a few. Moreover, the intersection of legal and economic spheres has also influenced the shape of current food systems, exacerbating injustice related to food production and accelerating the process of food commodification. This has reduced access to food and justice to remedy violations.

The panel aims to discuss these challenges through a renewed view of existing legal tools and economic models to promote and achieve justice in the global governance of food systems.

Keywords: Global food governance, Food Law Regulations, Law and Economics, Access to Justice, Business and Human rights, Development Law

Abstract: Local knowledge, practices, and beliefs related to ecology and gastronomy, including ecological history, human ecology, and associated ingredients, food products, and dishes, form the backbone of many local small-scale food systems worldwide, particularly in peripheral and marginal rural areas.

Despite their significance, most of these systems remain largely undocumented and overlooked by scientists and institutions, despite their potential role in informing place-based solutions to address future challenges of food systems worldwide. Discovering and revitalizing them and their heritage may be essential to providing sustainable scenarios for rural development, eco-tourism, and the small-scale food and restaurant sector.

In this context, interdisciplinarity emerges as a key approach to exploring local and traditional bodies of food knowledge and envisioning possible strategies aimed at their dynamic conservation, co-evolution, and promotion.

Abstract: Gastronomies are the result of movements of peoples, goods, and ideas. A historical analysis of these exchanges could help us better understand the evolution of food systems. In a globalized world, it is important to focus on possible trajectories of people, ingredients, foods, as well as tastes and culinary habits in order to propose interpretations of food cultures. Engaging with the history of mobility can open up new scenarios in reconsidering the role of food in migrant and diasporic communities. At the same time, approaching a historical event from this perspective can reveal new and important ways for decolonizing the history of food. Nevertheless, this thematic session aims to deal with many other arguments related to the topics above presented, such as the role of senses in the context of migration and diaspora, (inter)subjectivity and memory in relation to food, globalization of food vs. gastronationalism, rituals of people in diasporas, import and export of ingredients, mobility of plants/seeds, and cultivation of vegetables and fruits by migrants.

Keywords: Food History, Food Cultures, Migrations, Diaspora