On 9 May, Joel and Daniel Salatin from Polyface Farms will be speaking in Wageningen on their efforts to change agricultural practices and thinking in the US.
Joel will also be a keynote speaker for the closing day of the Food Film Festival in Amsterdam on 11 May. More information is available on the evening in Wageningen at the Facebook page for this event.
Tag Archives: Food
PUREFOOD conference teaser – The many benefits of local food
On May 14 and 15 2014 the PUREFOOD conference entitled “Take action? Collaborative action for more sustainable food systems” will take place in Utrecht (The Netherlands). The morning of the first day (Wednesday May 14) will take place in the Central Museum of Utrecht and consists of three inspirational presentations followed by a reflection by keynote listener Professor Tim Lang and discussions in workshops. In the afternoon there will be three excursions to urban and peri-urban agriculture and food initiatives in and around Utrecht.
The second day of the conference (Thursday May 15) will take place in DeFabrique in Utrecht. This second day is a joint event of PUREFOOD and the Day of Urban Farming, with a keynote speech by Claus Meyer (founder of the New Nordic Cuisine movement and co-owner of restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, which is considered to be the world’s best restaurant) and a wide variety of parallel workshops. For more information see the conference program.
As a teaser for the PUREFOOD conference Creative Beards has made a short animation movie addressing the main issues that have been studied in PUREFOOD.
Theoretical approaches to the ecologisation of agrifood systems – European Society of Rural Sociology 2014 Summerschool
Transitions towards more sustainable agrifood systems and rural landscapes are at the core of societal demands, technological but also social innovations and renewed public policies at various scales. In rural sociology they are addressed through different theoretical frameworks and the main objective of the ESRS PhD Summer School this year, is to discuss these competing and sometimes articulated frameworks and thereby to help the PhD students to clarify their own theoretical choices and to position them in relation to other theoretical frameworks that are used in rural sociology. For students who are rather at the beginning of their PhD, the aim will be to help them organize their state of the art and clarify their problematisation, while for students who are more advanced, it would rather be a discussion of their results in the light of existing literature and/or possibly the preparation of a future article. All the participants should have an interest in the theoretical frameworks that will be structuring the discussion, i.e. mainly Socio-Ecological Systems/Resilience theories, Food Regime Theory, Transition Theories, Actor Network Theory, and Social Studies of Science and Knowledge. Continue reading
“Sugar in Dutch foods throughout the years” – MSc-thesis possibility with Rural Sociology and Food Technology
Sugar in Dutch foods throughout the years: proposal for a Rural Sociology Master’s Thesis supervised by dr Jessica Duncan of the Rural Sociology Group and dr ir Ralf Hartemink of the Food Technology Group of Wageningen University.
Note: the research question is proposed by Knowledge Centre for Sugar & Nutrition (Kenniscentrum suiker & voeding). They will review the thesis and potentially use findings to develop a fact sheet on the history of sugar use in the Netherlands.
Research context and problem:
Today, it is not uncommon to read warning of the impacts of increasing amounts of sugars being added foods and drinks and thus increasing sugar intake by consumers. But is this the case in the Netherlands? Are Dutch people using more sugar in their cooking? Are they consuming more sugar in ready-made products? Has the sugar content in these products increased over the years? If so, by how much and why? In order to establish an overview of trends in sugar use in some typical Dutch products the researcher will:
- Research and map sugar trends in foods and drinks throughout the years (both domestic cooking and industrially prepared foods);
- Research the functionalities of sugar in a variety of products in the context of the trends.
- Analyse the social and technological drivers and implications of the trends
Interested in Food and Place?
Are you interested in the sociological aspects of food provisioning and place-based development and want to know more about topics like place-based food systems, food citizenship, civic food networks, sustainable place-shaping, diverse economies, place branding and social movements? Then it may be a relevant for you to attend the MSc course ‘Sociology of Food Provisioning and Place-based Development’ that starts on Monday 17 March 2014. Lectures and workshops are held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for a period of 6 weeks. Included in the program is also a gastronomic excursion to rural estate Rhederoord, to experience the practice of place-making and enjoy the taste of place-based food products. Although registration for the course has formally closed you can still register for the course by sending an email to the course coordinator (han.wiskerke@wur.nl). For more information about the content of the course, the program and the literature, have a look at the Course Guide.
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 