Power & Protein | TableDebates

Impossible foods

Series 2: Depolarising the future of protein

The future roles of livestock and alternative proteins are heavily contested. The IPES-Food report The Politics of Protein: Examining claims about livestock, fish, ‘alternative proteins’ and sustainability aimed to overcome polarisation by critically assessing the stories commonly told about different proteins and their environmental, nutritional, and social impacts. Did the report achieve its goal? In this TABLE Letterbox exchange, Garrett Broad and Phil Howard discuss whether the report instead reinforced existing media narratives about alternative proteins, and debate the extent to which plant-based and cell-cultured foods can help to resolve the challenges facing the global food system.

Image: Michael Schiffer, scope image, Unsplash, Unsplash Licence

The Politics of Disgust: What future for protein?

About the author: Rob Percival is the author of The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy and the Future of Meat. He works for the Soil Association as Head of Food Policy, leading the organisation’s advocacy on dietary change.

Image: Skitterphoto, London Piccadilly Circus, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence

Decoupling Desire: How can the advertising sector promote better, or less, consumption?

What is the role of food advertising in the context of net zero? In this blog post, Trish Fisher summarises a recent TABLE debate and reflects on the issue of greenwashing, alternative economic models such as B-corporations, government regulation of sustainability claims, and the challenges for the advertising industry of redefining a “good life” that is compatible with sustainability goals. This blog post is written by Trish Fisher, an intern at TABLE working on multiple projects. Currently, she is a graduate student at the University of Michigan pursuing dual master’s degrees in public policy and public health. Trish’s research interests lie at the intersection of climate, food, and health policy.

Fleshing out a future COP event advert

Event recording

Recording: Fleshing out a future COP

This joint event with TABLE and the Oxford Martin School on 24 February 2022 took the format of a panel discussion with: Dr Tara Garnett (director of TABLE and fellow of the Oxford Martin School); Dr Helena Wright, Policy Director at the FAIRR Initiative; Dr Pablo Manzano, Ikerbasque Research Fellow at the Basque Centre for Climate Change; and Dan Blaustein-Rejto, Director of Food and Agriculture at the Breakthrough Institute.

Can urban food systems be made more inclusive?

Event recording

Recording: TABLE and SLU Food & Cities present Ask the Author: Rethinking urban living labs

On 26 April 2022, TABLE and Food & Cities network at SLU jointly organised an Ask the Author session to discuss A tale of two labs: Rethinking urban living labs for advancing citizen engagement in food system transformation with co-authors Anke Brons and Koen van der Gaast.

Event recording

Recording: Decoupling desire? Food, advertising, consumption and the question of limits

On 6 May 2022, TABLE held a panel discussion, which brought together representatives from the advertising and food industries, from social enterprise and academia to explore advertising, food, desire and the question of ecological limits.

Fats

Event recording

Recording: How to squeeze fat into a sustainable food future

Prompted by the article The role of fats in the transition to sustainable diets (2021) authored by Bojana Bajželj, Federica Laguzzi and Elin Röös, TABLE hosted a webinar on 13 April 2022 to discuss the role of fats from a food systems perspective. The discussion covered environmental considerations and tradeoffs with different sources of fat production, the nutritional nuances of different types of fat, and what role could microbial oils and insects play in 'solving the fat gap.'

Process and power at TABLE

This piece is written by Tamsin Blaxter, researcher and writer at TABLE, as part of TABLE's work theme Power in the food system: what’s powering the future of protein?

Table GA

Event recording

Recording: Whose knowledge counts?

On 11 January 2022, TABLE and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food hosted a panel discussion centred around the “Politics of knowledge”, the first section of the Global Alliance report: Understanding the evidence for Agroecology, Regenerative approaches, and Indigenous foodways. The panel discussed what knowledge and evidence counts and to whom, and who decides which evidence is legitimate for making policy or ushering in food systems transformation.