Independent Dialogue
Geographical focus:
No borders
Area of divergence
Compared to the previous Bites of Transfoodmation workshops, during this Independent Dialogue, some stronger areas of divergence came out within and amongst the discussion groups. Particularly, participants highlighted some critical areas of divergence that involve difficult trade-offs for the following aspects: a) The question of how we could attribute the true value of food including people's perception and public subsidies. b) A tension in the definition of the terms: "healthy diets" and "personalized diets", how they should be determined and by whom. Participants had different understandin
... Read moregs on the definition of these two expressions with stricter interpretations implying new technologies and DNA editing on the one side, and much larger interpretations implying eating what makes you feel good on the other. c) The trade-off between tailored diets and its implication or interference with the personalized diets of others and the costs both in economic and environmental terms that such diets could have. d) Within the group, we felt a feeling of opposition between the social and health elements of food. Innovation and personalized diets were considered by some participants as a mere response to health necessities, somehow taking away the human and social part of nutrition, and therefore the celebration of food and its anchorage to cultural narratives and traditions. e) The risk of over-romanticize the "celebrative power" of food, as for participants food - in some some circumstances -can be a source of conflicts (when it is limited) and of mental stress with a particular focus on eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. f) When talking about the social and health aspects of food, and the prospect of moving towards more personalized diets in the future, the topic of pills (i.e. vitamins, supplements, etc.) came up. Some of the participants highlighted that pills were not the solution nor were desirable, as food is strongly linked to culture and traditions. Other participants, however, stressed that this is fast becoming a reality for industries and companies are investing in it. g) Some participants suggested the idea to associate strict personalized diets (as the one adopted by professional athletes for example) with some sorts of rewards in the form of "cheat meals". However, others stressed out the idea that "cheat meals" can be perceived as a punishment and could therefore increase some negative consequences for mental and physical health (feelings of guilt). Furthermore, many pointed out that a "cheat meal" should not be necessary, as we should be eating food we like every day in a balanced way. No clear answers have been identified to address these challenges, however there has been consensus that we, as a group, have the power to overcome these dichotomies between the social and health elements of food, between personal choices and sense of collectivity and between personalized diets and environmentally and economically sustainable diets. We need to dismantle these dicothomies to build our Bites of Transfoodmation Manifesto as diversity does not imply confusion and fear, but rather the opposite. Read less
Action Track(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Keywords: Environment and Climate, Governance, Human rights, Innovation, Policy, Trade-offs, Women & Youth Empowerment