A Scientific Day on Sustainable Food Systems in the Arctic

The event was the result of a fruitful collaboration between Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science and Umeå Institute of Design. 

Professor Armando Perez-Cueto is a Professor at the Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science at Umeå University, and an associated researcher at the Arctic Centre. He applied for funding from the Arctic Centre’s strategic funds for the event “Sustainable Food Systems in the Arctic” and was granted. He was one of the co-organisers, and the first one out to talk at the event. He describes what his talk was about.

– As one of the co-organisers, I underscored the urgency for changing the food system, and outlined the areas of work, and invited all to join the transformation.

He then proceeds to explain the setup of the event.

– The program was divided in four blocks, starting and closing with the co-organisers. The first focused on the research at Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science and the overarching arena of food research in the Arctic, the second focused on indigenous peoples’ food systems, the third on national and international food research, and the fourth on the research at Umeå Institute of Design.

Apart from Professor Armando Perez-Cueto, there were ten other researchers from all over the world talking at the event, as well as four current PhD students.

– First Elisabeth Stoltz Sjöström presented the new National Graduate School InSyNc. Then four current PhD students shared the progress of their work that bear witness to the diversity and multi-disciplinary approach taken by the Department. Anna-Karin Karlsson from RISE then explained the vision for food-related research in Arctic, with emphasis on the current innovative projects. Hanna Tait Neufeld from the University of Waterloo shared her experience in Canada with the complexity of urban indigenous food environments. After her, Beno Juarez shared his experience of effective action accompanied by a film.

After a sustainable lunch at Restaurant Hjortron, the event continued with five more guest speakers who shared their insights on the food arena.

– Agnes Giboreau spoke about the role of the senses and food enjoyment in transitioning towards healthy and sustainable eating behaviours. Cornelia Redeker then showed strategies for design roles on food security in Umeå and surroundings. After her, Maria Wennberg shared the gem that is the Northen Sweden Diet Database and its potential for monitoring diet changes. She was followed by Lena Maria Nilsson who shared the initial information from the dietary survey directed to Sámi people and reflecting Sámi traditional foods. And then Jonatan Leer from Aalborg University explained how designing experiences could contribute towards sustainable food systems.

The scientific program was finalized with the presentation by co-organiser Professor Danielle Wilde from the Umeå Institute of Design, who showed how she engages across scales, leading situated, multi-actor research into more-than-human flourishing; focusing on food, health and microbiomes then going to bodies, communities and cities, and the interplays these have with regional and planetary concerns.

All in all, the event was successful with 58 people attending.

Armando F J Perez Cueto Eulert Professor

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