2.A. Workshop: (Re)imagining food: representations of food to move towards more sustainable food cultures

How food is produced, sold and consumed reveals much about people, culture, policies and environments, and the relationships between them. Food has ‘meaning’. These meanings matter: they helps to express our values and what we are connected to. The various meanings of food in society are shaped by how food is represented. These representations develop and vary in time and between fields. Recent years have also witnessed growth food meanings developing in discourses on the environment. How food is represented in various fields - not least news media, social media, video games, accounts, policies and regulations, and popular culture - shape our views on health and sustainability. This workshop will explore contemporary policy and public debates about food and sustainability. It will uncover how societies approach and conceive the relationships between food, environment, and human health. The workshop will explore several themes, including the following: • Understanding representations of food and the natural environment in fields (eg science and technology) and in various media. • How these representations create meaning. • How these meanings become drivers of food and sustainability movements. • How movements contribute to laws and policies which can support or undermine effective action on promoting sustainable consumption. • How stakeholders - including consumers, journalists, governments and politicians, and commercial actors - can enhance narratives and their communication strategies towards a transition to a more sustainable food system. With its interdisciplinary methodologies, this workshop will be of interest to a wide range of policy makers, practitioners and researchers working on reducing obesity and other diet-related non-communicable diseases while promoting environmental sustainability to preserve and improve the ability of generations to meet their own needs. Presentations will be short (5 minutes each) and will stimulate debates with the audience not only to disseminate knowledge but also develop policy recommendations. KEY MESSAGES: • Representations of food and the environment create meanings which, in turn, influence views, policies and strategies affecting health and environmental sustainability. • Understanding how different actors construct representations can help enhance narratives and communication strategies to help transition towards a more sustainable food system.