Paper Short Abstract:

This paper discusses the potential of ritual interventions in supporting a transition to more healthy and sustainable food practices. We present the findings of a transdisciplinary research project in which we looked into the place of meat in festive meal traditions. One of the deliverables of the project was an action framework with suggestions how to negotiate the place of meat or reduce the amount of meat in (semi-)private settings. To breach the reproductive association between celebration and meat, we contribute to unwriting meat of the taken for granted at festive occasions.

Paper Abstract:

Meat consumption at its current level is considered a source of serious environmental problems, health risks and animal suffering. However, meat is a central and often highly valued component in many traditions and rituals. Meat is a central and often highly valued component in many traditions and rituals. In such a heritage context, eating meat is often accompanied by a certain habituation and obviousness. The repetitive nature and the lively visual culture surrounding these practices, moreover, reproduce the link between celebration and meat, time and again. This makes it difficult to change.

An important angle of approach of the project was that ritualised behaviour can not only hinder change, but can also accelerate or initiate it. Thus, the focus was on the potential of traditions as catalysts for change. But how does this work in practice? Together with students and researchers from various disciplines, possibilities for change were designed and tested, while taking into account the meanings that participants in such practices attribute to meat (dishes). The outcomes of these interventions provide insight into the meanings, practices and norms to which meat is connected.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper looks at the discourses and practices developed around the food transition in the city of Liège to explore the extent to which migrants are included or excluded from this process, as well as the ways in which sustainability is re-defined by diverse profiles of local residents.

Paper Abstract:

The city of Liège in Belgium has been involved for several years in the cities-in-transition movement, through the development of a series of local initiatives (reflecting international actions and embedded in international networks) aimed at transforming the local food system to meet the current challenges related to climate change. Recently, these initiatives, which in practice and in related representations are generally associated with the local educated middle class, have been questioned by their promoters in order to assess their inclusivity – and thus their potential to engage larger parts of the local population. At the same time, contradictory discourses on migrant food practices are developing, pointing on the one hand to practices that need to be changed and on the other hand to traditions that may have been lost in modern Western countries and that may contribute to additional resilience. In this context, ethnographic research allows to highlight the specific ways in which the process of food transition develops in the city, the characteristics of the narratives mobilised to shape and disseminate it, as well as the ways in which it interacts with food projects organised with or targeted at (female) migrant people. In analysing the collected material, particular attention will be paid to the redefinition of sustainability through the mobilisation of memories and notions of health elaborated from different intersectional social positions.

Paper Short Abstract:

In the paper, I examine the expansion of modern agricultural models in the largest apple-growing region of Poland. I analyse smaller farmers’ strategies of resistance, trying to find some alternative ways of thinking about the future of agriculture.

Paper Abstract:

The Plantationocene is yet another analytical category that attempts to capture the scale and pace of changes following capitalist globalisation. The focus of this concept is on the global network of inter-species relations that make up contemporary food production systems. In the proposed paper, I examine the impact of the expansion of the intensifying model of agriculture on Polish fruit growing. I interpret Plantationocene as an ongoing capitalist world-making project, which, although aiming at standardising agricultural practices, at the same time, actually, constantly reproduces the underlying differences. That is because the emerging plantation worlds depend on the previous systems, and it is in this relation that I see the potential for resistance and possible alternative ways of development. In the conditions of the “Grójec apple basin”, the plantation-inspired agriculture is paving its way in a post-peasant agrarian structure based on hundreds of relatively small farms. I analyse resistance strategies to this expansion, such as limiting spraying or selecting varieties based on their resilience rather than productivity. I argue that not only are they not directed against specialised agriculture as such, but their goal is to keep a certain form of it alive. My approach is that while using the concept of Plantationocene to analyse modern food production systems, it is important not to equalise all of the contemporary agricultural practices with plantation. The former – although sometimes equally destructive – leaves space for alternative production ways, and thus for the emergence of better, more inclusive, multi-species futures.

Paper Short Abstract:

How can arts-based methods contribute to our understanding of interspecies co-existence? Moving away from historically positivist botanical research, this paper uses embodied actions and collaging-assemblaging methodologies to map the interconnected lives of the asparagus plant and the socialities which it is a part of.

Paper Abstract:

In our contemporary commercial food systems, plants are often regarded as unconditionally available for use and exploitation by humans. With agribusiness models' growing prevalence and the use of technology in food farming, the interaction between humans and edible plants is restricted to the supermarket.

The asparagus plant, however, requires specialist care. It needs to be hand-picked carefully and at the right time - by humans. Asparagus bunches contain only the shoots of the plant, which are never allowed to reach their full size or flower. The white varieties are even deprived of sunlight for photosynthesis. This short but intensive care for a vegetable deemed almost a luxury item creates interesting constellations around this plant. Following a place-based logic, the PhD research is situated in Northern Italian villages infamous for their asparagus seasons.

Art-based methods including walking in fields with people caring for asparagus, mapping its historical routes, creating assemblages, and making and eating food are used in this study to define plant socialities beyond common stereotypes. This kind of ‘deep mapping’ moves beyond the dualist human-nonhuman perspective and can make important conclusions without a quest for a complete map (Modeen & Biggs 2020).

A theoretical perspective of posthumanism is used alongside critical plant studies to analyse the asparagus’s role in the vision of planetary coexistence. Overall, the study allows for the definition of ‘asparagus socialities’, based on human and non-human agents' needs, experiences, and communicative acts around the asparagus plant.

Paper Short Abstract:

Sustainable lifestyles are of enormous importance for achieving the goals of the sustainability strategy for leading nations (e.g. Germany) but also worldwide (UN SDGs, 2021). At the same time, Arturo Escobar critiques the concept of ‘development’ as a monolithic product of post-colonial and cultural imperialism. Taking the case of everyday experiences and environmental change, this paper starts to seek an understanding for the Anthropocene in general, processes of planetary health under the perspective of the Anthropocene and poses the question, of whether and how a balanced relationship is reflected by lifestyles. Empirical Interviews (n=60) were conducted from July to December 2024 worldwide (in Germany, Island, Spain, Canada, USA, Ecuador, Chile, Uganda, Kenia, Tanzania, Iran, Armenia, India, Australia and New Zealand) and established a basis to understand the Anthropocene from an innovative bottom-up approach.

Paper Abstract:

Sustainable lifestyles are of enormous importance for achieving the goals of the sustainability strategy for leading nations (e.g. Germany) but also worldwide (UN SDGs, 2021). The elaboration of empowering behavioral paradigms to enhance sustainable lifestyles is crucial for the equitable distribution of common goods and health services across all levels of societal institutions and individual action (Sunstein and Reisch 2019). At the same time, Arturo Escobar critiques the concept of ‘development’ as a monolithic product of post-colonial and cultural imperialism. Escobar encourages entities and actions to be enlightened through the pluriverse, the conception of multiple, mutual ontological realities. While studying sustainable lifestyles, it became clear that not only certain external triggers (like severe illness) were determining, but also communication/awareness. Within this experience and close interaction with ‘natural’ activities plays a crucial role (Werner and Risius 2021). Understanding meaningfulness, especially in the light of climate change and other anthropogenic, in a holistic manner is of high importance to attach to livelihoods under planetary boundaries.

Taking the case of everyday experiences and environmental change, this paper starts to seek an understanding for the Anthropocene in general, processes of planetary health under the perspective of the Anthropocene and poses the question, of whether and how a balanced relationship is reflected by lifestyles.

Empirical Interviews (n=60) were conducted from July to December 2024 worldwide (in Germany, Island, Spain, Canada, USA, Ecuador, Chile, Uganda, Kenia, Tanzania, Iran, Armenia, India, Australia and New Zealand) and established a basis to understand the Anthropocene from a bottom-up approach.

Paper Short Abstract:

There is growing recognition that building sustainable food systems demands revisiting the past and drawing valuable lessons from historical practices. This presentation, grounded in ethnographic research and qualitative interviews, examines the role of heirloom plants in reimagining sustainable food systems. These traditional plant varieties, now experiencing a resurgence of interest, offer a vital link between age-old agricultural practices and future sustainability. In the Slovenian micro-region of Prlekija, which serves as the focus of this study, heirloom apples hold a particularly significant place. Local enthusiasts invest considerable time, resources, and passion into cultivating these traditional apple varieties, underscoring their deep cultural and ecological value. At the heart of this research lies a pivotal question: can the growing interest in heirloom fruits reshape mainstream food systems and catalyze a broader shift toward sustainable agriculture? Exploring this possibility sheds light on how food heritage can play a transformative role in addressing the challenges of the Anthropocene.

Paper Abstract:

Living in the Anthropocene underscores the urgent need to respect planetary boundaries, especially in food production, distribution, and consumption. In Slovenia, there is widespread recognition that agriculture and food systems exert significant environmental impacts, driving calls for transformative change. Yet, strategies for addressing this cultural and economic challenge vary. Despite differing approaches, there is a shared understanding that building sustainable food systems requires revisiting the past and drawing inspiration from historical practices.

This presentation focuses not on history itself but on contemporary discussions about the future of food heritage. Drawing on ethnographica research and qualitative interviews, it examines the role of heirloom plants—traditional varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other crops that have been preserved across generations without genetic modification or hybridization. These plants hold irreplaceable genetic value; once lost, their foundations cannot simply be recreated through genetic engineering, which remains unable to replicate the biodiversity and resilience inherent to heirloom varieties.

Now receiving renewed attention, these plants symbolize the potential to connect past agricultural practices with future sustainability. They offer valuable insights into how Slovenia might reimagine its food systems in alignment with environmental sustainability and cultural heritage. In the Slovenian micro-region of Prlekija, which is central to this ethnographic research, heirloom apples are particularly significant. Enthusiasts dedicate remarkable resources and effort to cultivating these apple trees. Does the growing interest in heirloom fruits hold the potential to influence mainstream food systems, paving the way for a broader transformation toward sustainable agriculture and food practices?

Paper Short Abstract:

The paper focuses on skyr as biocultural heritage and skyr-making practices. I explore how skyr-makers see their skyr practices considering past traditions and future prospects for sustainable living, and how community, identity and emotional bonding is achieved through multispecies interactions.

Paper Abstract:

This paper focuses on the sour dairy product skyr as a biocultural heritage and the maker cultures that skyr-making practices engender. In recent years, skyr has been propelled to international dairy stardom and labelled as national food heritage. Slow Food added skyr to its “Ark of Taste” in 2007 and emphasized that the main differences between traditional skyr and its industrialized counterpart are, first, the use of a pinch of older skyr to make a new batch and, second, a lengthy preparation time due to older methods of straining.

The live cultures of skyr provide an excellent example of symbiosis between microbial cultures and human cultures through their respective histories, constituting long-standing “cultures of cultures”. Indeed, the resilience and adaptation of the microbiomes of skyr, their natural and cultural selection over time, together with the constant introduction of new bacteria and yeast, fostered great microbial diversity. As a result, these microbes constitute a unique part of biocultural diversity in Iceland.

Through interviews and participant observations, I investigate how practitioners see their skyr practices in light of past traditions and future prospects for healthy sustainable living as part of the “probiotic zeitgeist”, and how sociality, community, identity and emotional bonding is achieved through these ecological interactions.

The paper thus examines the value of human-microbial collaboration and how microbial cultures engender and maintain human cultural practices. Skyr making highlights the social value of inter-species symbiosis between humans and microbes, or the reciprocal, co-evolutionary relationships between life forms.