Embassy of Food Conference: small roundtables discussing big issues

That food system is a complex set of stakeholders, said moderator Frank Kimenai prior to the conversations. Designers can help unravel that complexity, as was emphasised on stage. Kimenai – a farmer’s son, trained as an ecologist and currently a researcher on transformations in pop music – cited a quote from architect Floris Alkemade: “What designers can bring to the search for solutions is the ability to focus not on certainties, but on doubt. That requires flexibility, a characteristic that designers have naturally.”

Barbara Vos showed the creation of a mind map that visual storyteller Rogier Klomp made together with the Embassy. “He has the gift of turning something super complex into something very manageable,” said Vos. “Such a mapping is a kind of conversation piece that encourages discussion. I recently watched from a distance as a mother and child looked at the mapping together. The mother explained the nitrogen crisis using Rogier’s drawings. That really brought tears to my eyes.” 

Complexity

Impact designer and philosopher Jetske van Oosten was also the first speaker during the conference to consider the complexity of issues in the food system. According to Van Oosten, such complexity presents a ‘wicked problem’: an issue “about which there is (too) little knowledge available and little consensus. Another way to characterise a wicked problem is as open, complex, dynamic and connected. With wicked problems there is usually not one (obvious) problem owner. In order to do something about it, there must be cooperation, because there are many stakeholders in the issue.” 

“Thinking about food is an ethical issue,” Van Oosten also emphasised. “It requires us to ask want we want from each other. Sometimes we have to make painful choices together. It helps to continue to see each other as people and always ask: does this work for you too?”

Maakkracht

Van Oosten described how Maakkracht (‘Power of creation’) – which is also the title of the book she wrote together with Tabo Goudswaard – plays a particularly important role, just like imagination, in initiating changes in these types of issues. “We believe that imagination is crucial to turning ‘what is’ into ‘what we want’.”

“The power of creation is in everyone,” said Van Oosten. “The power of imagination is not just the power of some kind of creative genius who devises a brilliant solution. In my opinion, the power of imagination is being able to think about the past, the future and other possibilities.” She illustrated this view, among other things, with ‘Disarming Design’, a series of products by Annelys de Vet and Khaled Hourani, an example of food and activism that, according to Van Oosten, has become very topical again. “Disarming Design tells the story behind a product, such as honey from Palestine. It is becoming increasingly difficult for beekeepers in those areas to get past all kinds of checkpoints. As a result, honey is becoming increasingly rare. In my opinion, it is such a good example because food is something that we are all familiar with. We eat it every day and it is very close to everyone. That is precisely why it is a fantastic way to reveal the complex layers behind a product.”

Makers’ roles

Van Oosten explained what different roles there can be for different types of makers. For example, she distinguished the Watchdog (who puts a problem on the agenda), the Treasure Hunter (the researcher of a problem), the Initiator (someone who makes proposals), the Explorer (the one who tests proposals) and the Deliverer (the person who ultimately anchors proposals in a sustainable way). This division of roles also applies to changes in the food system, according to Van Oosten. “As a maker you are in love with the issue, not with the solution.”

Panel

Following the insights shared by Van Oosten, Nadia Zerouali (culinary author), Floris Visser (designer of Mensa Mensa), Zoë Robaey (bioethicist) and Pieter van der Valk (farmer and founder of Agricycling) joined for a panel discussion with Vos and Kimenai. 

Van der Valk pointed out that, for him, the soil plays a crucial role in the transition issues. “The soil is quite literally the basis of everything. The rest, such as agriculture, is a derivative of that. The function of the soil and the stewardship that goes with it are crucial,” said the founder of Agricycling, a foundation that distributes available residual flows based on optimal use from the perspective of the soil.

The role of technology

Technology also plays a major role in the transition of the food industry, Robaey said. She is involved in a project on precision fermentation. “We work with scientists who identify milk proteins and ferment them in a bioreactor. In other words: we make milk without a cow. In this way you can create food that is very individualised, which has a lot of potential, but is also disruptive at the same time. Because what will happen in the future if this becomes your new way of making dairy?” 

Van der Valk quoted actor Denzell Washington to indicate that the added value of these types of developments should always be looked at: “Don’t confuse a movement with progress, he once said.” 

To find answers to these types of questions about the future, it is important to keep talking to each other, according to Zerouali. She said that conversations with experts from other disciplines help in what she does as a culinary entrepreneur. “I need to broaden my perspective. In fact, we have to look at the challenges at hand every time.”

Roundtables

Such a broadening of perspective took place this afternoon at fourteen different tables. During the roundtables, participants from different disciplines sat together at a table to gain insights from one another. The questions were discussed in small groups, but were often large and comprehensive in nature. 

Among the questions discussed were: “How does our food become everyone’s responsibility again?” “How can we change the relationship with those who produce our food: from farmers and animals to microorganisms?” “Saying goodbye in times of transition: how do you do that?” “How do we treat humanity in agriculture and labor?” “How do we jointly design 100,000 hectares of food landscape with an eye to ecology, economy and society?” “What could a radical new normal in food consumption look like from a societal perspective?”

Overlap with other disciplines

At one of the tables the complexity of the transition was again discussed. “To be able to recover minerals from our own excrement, you also have to tackle the sewage system. And that is another construction task. There is always an overlap with other disciplines,” said one of the experts. Another participant said: “We have to look at the total impact on our landscape. Because this is a holistic issue anyway.” 

Following the roundtables, Vos closed the conference by explicitly asking the participants to reflect on what they had taken away from this afternoon and how this can lead to action. “We are constantly looking for what value we as the Embassy can add,” said Vos. “Your insights are input for what we will do next year.”

Embassy of Food looks back with pride and full of energy at the extraordinary group that came together and the conversations that emerged during the conference. Were you not there but still want to read what has been discussed? The team behind the Embassy wrote a reflection document (in Dutch) with special highlights and quotes from the participants.

The Embassy of Food’s conference was a start to renew the conversation about our food system, and what role imagination can play in it. This format will be further refined to allow for more themed conversations in the future. The input from these discussions will then also form the guiding principle for the design research that the Embassy will be conducting in the coming years, where they will use the power of design to search for ways to contribute to improving the food system. The conference during Dutch Design Week is the annual physical highlight to see it in action.