Power & Protein | TableDebates

collage of historical adverts for protein foods

Primed for power: a short cultural history of protein

The history of protein, from its 'discovery' and naming in 1838, is a story weaving science, nutritional politics, cultural attitudes to food, and much more. An understanding of this history is invaluable if we are to contextualise the current focus on protein that characterises discourses about health and sustainable food systems, and popular beliefs about fitness and nutrition. In this piece, we trace the history of protein from 1838 through to the end of the 'Protein fiasco' in 1974, discovering many echoes of the modern day. Table of contents: Introduction Section 1: The primary substance Section 2: Meat makes meat: the first protein fashion Section 3: Testing the lower limit: the end of the first protein fashion Section 4: 1918-1955: milk, aid and biopolitics Section 5: Protein fiasco Section 6: Epilogue Suggested citation: Blaxter, T., & Garnett, T. (2022). Primed for power: a short cultural history of protein. TABLE, University of Oxford, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Wageningen University and Research. https://doi.org/10.56661/ba271ef5 https://www.doi.org/10.56661/ba271ef5

Plating up the future of meat

Event recording

Event recording: Plating up the future of meat

This event was hosted by TABLE on 17 October 2022 and took the format of a panel discussion with: Dr Tara Garnett (director of TABLE and fellow of the Oxford Martin School); Adele Jones (Executive Director, Sustainable Food Trust); Jude Capper (independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant & ABP Chair of Sustainable Beef and Sheep Production, Harper Adams University); Iain Tolhurst (Owner, Tolhurst Organic Farm); Varun Deshpande (Managing Director for Asia, the Good Food Institute).

Event recording

Event recording: Does methane from livestock matter?

This event was hosted by TABLE on 28 September 2022 and took the format of a panel discussion with: Dr Tara Garnett (director of TABLE and fellow of the Oxford Martin School); Andy Reisinger (IPCC Working Group III (mitigation)/New Zealand Climate Change Commission) Claudia Arndt (The International Livestock Research Institute [ILRI]) John Lynch (University of Oxford) Martin Persson (Chalmers University of Technology)

A herd of cattle stands in a muddy field in Romania.

Notes from the field - livestock animals in rural Romania

After visiting Romania, George Cusworth reflects on the challenges facing Romania's subsistence peasant farmers, whose traditional agricultural practices support rich, biodiverse landscapes but who are increasingly under threat from financial pressures and external interests. All photographs curtesy of Alexander Turner. About the author: Dr George Cusworth is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. He works on the Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) project, funded by the Wellcome Trust. He wrote this blog after visiting Romania in May 2022.

New blog: Use, Misuse and Abuse - a vet reflects on animal exploitation - by Rebecca Sanders

Use, Misuse and Abuse - a vet reflects on animal exploitation

As I went through the process of extricating myself from an abusive relationship, back when I worked as a meat-vet, I started recognising my life was saturated in violence. That experience changed my perspective on not just my personal life, but the meat industry, the veterinary profession (my profession!), and our society at large. It forced me to rethink and re-evaluate some of my core-beliefs and values, and led me to make some fairly substantial changes in how I move through life. Content note: this piece mentions domestic violence, genocide, suicide and animal slaughter. About the author: TABLE intern Rebecca Sanders graduated as a veterinarian in 2011. After six years as a meat industry veterinarian in New Zealand, her growing concerns about the ethical and environmental implications of the meat industry prompted a radical change in trajectory and transition towards sustainable agricultural research.

A flyer for the "Setting the Table for COP27: Carbon sequesterers or climate trashers? What role for grazing ruminants in a 1.5°C world?" event with photos of Francesca Cotrufo, Pete Smith and Matthew Hayek.

Event recording

Event recording: Carbon sequesterers or climate trashers? What role for grazing ruminants in a 1.5°C world?

This event was hosted by TABLE on 14 September 2022 and took the format of a panel discussion with: Dr Tara Garnett (director of TABLE and fellow of the Oxford Martin School); Professor Pete Smith (University of Aberdeen); Professor M. Francesca Cotrufo (Colorado State University); Assistant Professor Matthew Hayek (New York University).

Joachim von Braun

Podcast episode

Ep29: Joachim von Braun on an 'IP for Food'

What comes after the UN Food Systems Summit?

Grindadráp: What place does whaling have in a sustainable food future?

What place does whaling have in a sustainable food future?

Few food practices draw more intense debate than whaling. In the case of grindadráp, the traditional Faroese form of whaling, this debate plays out almost every summer in bloody images in tabloid newspapers around the world and calls for the tourist industry to boycott the islands. But beyond the headlines, this is a complex, challenging issue that raises questions about what a truly local, sustainable food future could look like. In this TABLE blog, Tamsin Blaxter, researcher and writer at TABLE, explores some of the issues around the grind, both from the perspective of animal rights and conservation, and food traditions and local identity.

A field with tractor tracks through the middle extends into the distance, with a forest in the distance. The text asks "What is ecomodernism?"

Event recording

Event recording: What is ecomodernism?

This event was hosted by TABLE on 15 June 2022 and took the format of a panel discussion with: Dr Tara Garnett (director of TABLE and fellow of the Oxford Martin School); Helen Breewood, research & communications officer at TABLE & author of the explainer on ecomodernism; Linus Blomqvist, co-author of the Ecomodernist Manifesto, former director of the Conservation and Food & Agriculture programmes at the Breakthrough Institute & PhD candidate in Environmental Economics and Science at University of California, Santa Barbara; Sam Bliss, PhD candidate in natural resources at the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Environment & president of DegrowUS.