This paper, based on Australian dietary survey data, provides support for the “protein leverage hypothesis” - the theory that people’s appetites regulate their protein intake to be within a narrow range, and hence that if protein makes up a lower proportion of the foods they eat, people will end up consuming more calories (in the form of fats and carbohydrates) as a side effect of their appetite for protein. Hence, it argues, protein is key to understanding the high prevalence of obesity. It identifies highly processed foods as one of the food categories that has the strongest “diluting” effect on dietary protein.

The Singapore Food Agency has approved the sale of food products containing Solein®, the microbial protein-rich powder produced by Finnish startup Solar Foods. The production process runs on electricity, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen and small amounts of other nutrients. Solar Foods is also seeking regulatory approval in the United States, the UK and the European Union.

This piece from digital exhibition Apples & People explains the history of the apple in Indian cookery. It also features a short book of Indian apples recipes, which can be downloaded for free.

This memoir by Indian environmental activist Dr Vandana Shiva recounts her advocacy for diversity, indigenous knowledge, localisation, seed saving and food sovereignty.

This book outlines key issues currently facing the global food system, as well as responses to them, including corporate concentration, the planetary boundaries, food poverty, alternative proteins, urban food systems and circular food systems.

This report by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food argues that public climate finance should be directed into food system transformation because of the potential to deliver cost-effective co-benefits for climate mitigation, biodiversity, health and food system resilience. Currently, food systems receive only 3% of public climate finance despite producing one third of global emissions.

This policy brief from Climate Advisers and the Good Food Institute suggests that alternative proteins (both plant-based and cultivated, i.e. lab-grown, options) are important for food security around the world and national security in the United States. It argues that feeding edible crops to livestock drives up the price of staple crops, negatively affects the quantity of food available to people, and makes food reliant on long, fragile supply chains (e.g. at risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks).

This discussion paper from the UK’s Food Research Collaboration discusses meetings that happened between lobbyists and policymakers when the UK government was developing restrictions on promoting foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS). It shows that most of the relevant meetings were with media and advertising interests as opposed to directly with food companies. It als notes that some exemptions and loopholes were introduced that made the final legislation less strict than the initial proposals.

This briefing note from IPES Food explores the evolution of three terms: ‘agroecology’, ‘nature-based solutions’, and ‘regenerative agriculture’. It also examines how the terms have been used at the United Nations Food Systems Summit, COP26 and the 15th conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as by funders and agrifood corporations.