Events hosted by TABLE

Find out what events TABLE will be hosting in the future and view recordings of previous events.
Check out food sustainability events organised by other organisations here.

Upcoming events

TABLE will take part in two events at the2023 Tufts Nutrition Data Symposium: Sustainability Now! Action-oriented Solutions for Food Systems, Nutrition, and Diet, which can be attended remotely.

Matthew Kessler is moderating a debate on "The future of animal protein – intensive, regenerative or eliminated" on 9 March 2023. The panellists will be author Rob Percival, author of the Meat Paradox, who has written a TABLE blog here: The Politics of Disgust: What future for protein?) and Sigrid Agenäs, researcher in Animal Sciences at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Tara Garnett is moderating a debate on "Too many fish to fry: public health, environmental protection and social justice – can we have it all?" on 10 March 2023. The debaters are Jess Sparks (Tufts University), Shakuntala Thilsted (WorldFish) and Benjamin Halpern (University of California - Santa Barbara).

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Previous events

17 October 2022. Setting the Table for COP27: Plating up the future of meat

How much and what types of meat should we eat, and how should the meat we eat be produced? Inspired by the think piece Gut feelings and possible tomorrows: (where) does animal farming fit? TABLE is launching a new podcast project funded by Formas called Meat: The Four Futures. In this event, panellists explored the four future scenarios, present the evidence they find most convincing for their preferred future, and outline how they envision achieving their version of a more sustainable and just food system.

28 September 2022. Setting the Table for COP27: Does methane from livestock matter?

COP26 saw the launch of the Global Methane Pledge and since then 121 nations have signed up to it, thereby agreeing to reduce their methane emissions by 30% by 2030. With the food system being one the largest anthropogenic source of methane – even more so than oil and gas – efforts to honour this pledge will likely have implications for how agriculture is practiced; and potentially for what we eat.

14 September 2022. Setting the Table for COP27: Carbon sequesterers or climate trashers? What role for grazing ruminants in a 1.5°C world?

When it comes to agriculture, the role of ruminant livestock (e.g., cattle, sheep, and goats) in sequestering CO2 through grazing on the one hand, and in contributing to GHG emissions and other environmental damage on the other have become highly polarized topics of debate. Join TABLE for a panel discussion on 14 September at 6pm BST with leading thinkers and researchers on agriculture, food systems and climate change mitigation.

15 June 2022: What is ecomodernism? Perspectives from ecomodernism and degrowth on limits to growth, lifestyles and media narratives

Ecomodernism is an environmental movement that emphasises the role of technology in enabling material prosperity while also protecting ecosystems. It stands in contrast to the degrowth movement, which challenges the current economic paradigm, and emphasises the need to reduce global consumption and production in ways that tackle inequality and foster environmental sustainability. The two philosophies paint different visions for the future of humanity and the planet.

At this TABLE event, research and communications officer Helen Breewood summarised the TABLE explainer "What is ecomodernism?" This presentation was followed by a discussion between our guest speakers Linus Blomqvist and Sam Bliss, chaired by TABLE director Tara Garnett, in which we heard both ecomodernist and degrowth perspectives on technology, lifestyles and environmental limits.

6 May 2022: Decoupling desire? Food, advertising, consumption and the question of limits

Each day, the average British consumer will see around 3000 commercial messages – on billboards, on their screens, on television – and 15% of these will be for food. Advertising is part of life. This panel discussion 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.  

You can now view the recording and join the conversation on our community platform.

26 April 2022: TABLE and SLU Food&Cities present Ask the Author: Rethinking urban living labs

In our first Ask the Author session for 2022, we were joined by co-authors Anke Brons and Koen van der Gaast to discuss A tale of two labs: Rethinking urban living labs for advancing citizen engagement in food system transformation.

View the recording and continue the conversation on our community platform.

13 April 2022: Webinar, "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.' More info can be found here.

Continue the conversation on our community platform.

24 February 2022: Panel Discussion: "Fleshing out a future COP"

In conjunction with the Oxford Martin School, TABLE held a panel discussion event on 24 February 2022 on differing perceptions of the best future for livestock and how COP27 can address livestock-related concerns. The event featured 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.

Continue the conversation on our community platform.

11 January 2022: Whose evidence counts? Exploring evidence for Agroecology, Regenerative Approaches, and Indigenous Foodways.

On 11 January 2021, 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?

Continue the conversation on our community platform.

8 December 2021: An open discussion on power in the food system

On 8 December 2021, TABLE hosted and recording an open discussion about power in the food system with representatives from civil society, academia, media and the private sector.  At TABLE we recognise that our own biases and perspectives will influence how we think about power in the food system so the purpose of the event is to hear a range of different views and understandings of power. This kick off event helps us think about who and what shapes, controls and influences past, present and future food systems. More event info can be found here.

Continue the conversation on our community platform.

9 July 2021: Ask the Author - True cost accounting for food - new metrics for the 21st century

TABLE and Global Alliance for the Future of Food co-present an Ask the author session. We discussed Chapter 1, "From Practice to Policy: New Metrics for the 21st Century", from the book "True Cost Accounting for Food: Balancing the Scale" published by Routledge in June 2021. We were joined by co-editor Lauren Baker (Global Alliance for the Future of Food) and chapter author Carl Obst (IDEEA Group). A summary and recording of the event can be found here, and summary of the book can be found here.

2 June 2021: TABLE launch event: Should the future of food be global or local?

TABLE's official launch event on 2 June 2021 celebrated the transition from the Food Climate Research Network into TABLE. The event centred on perhaps one of the most complex questions around food and sustainability: At what scale should the food system operate? In other words, should the future food system be more globalised or localised, and why? Please click here for more information about this event.

11 May 2021: A dialogue on Regenerative Agriculture: Why is it taking the world by storm?

TABLE and LEAP present a dialogue on Regenerative Agriculture (RA) between Ken Giller (Wageningen UR) and Yichao Rui (Rodale Institute) moderated by Tara Garnett (TABLE). We discussed the following topics: How is RA different from agroecology, organic, sustainable agriculture? What is meant by soil biological health? Is it important? How does RA tie in with debates about land-sparing and land-sharing?

30 April 2021: Ask the Author - A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture

We discuss Simon Bush (Chair of the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University) and colleagues’ recent publication in Nature: A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture. We were also joined by co-authors Alejandro Buschmann (Universidad de Los Lagos) and Dave Little (University Stirling).

12 March 2021: Ask the Author - Considering plant-based meat substitutes and cell-based meats

TABLE presents Ask the Author series, an intimate space for a detailed discussion about the research and its implications with participants from a range of disciplines and sectors. We discuss Raychel Santo (Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future) and colleagues’ recent publication in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems: Considering Plant-Based Meat Substitutes and Cell-Based Meats: A Public Health and Food Systems Perspective.

5 February 2021: Ask the author - Halting European Union soybean feed imports favours ruminants over pigs and poultry

TABLE presents Ask the Author series, an intimate space for a detailed discussion about the research and its implications with participants from a range of disciplines and sectors. We discuss Johan Karlsson (the Swedish Agricultural University) and colleagues' recent publication in Nature Food: Halting European Union soybean feed imports favours ruminants over pigs and poultry. The paper examines three scenarios for animal-source food production in the European Union under two constraints: halting all imports of soybeans and soybean meal used as animal feed, and not using any additional land for animal feed cultivation (either inside or outside the EU).