Reflections on Food & Communication

[Originally posted on LinkedIn September 16, 2025]

Last week, I had the pleasure of traveling to France to attend the 4th Conference on Food & Communication, hosted by Simona De Iulio Salma El Bourkadi Jeanne Peixian QIAO and colleagues at Infocom - Université Lille 3. I think this may be my favorite conference. (I know I say that about several, but…I have love in my heart 🤷 😉)

A few things I particularly love about this conference:

Both food & communication are huge scholarly areas with many different intellectual entry points…and also both involve cultural, social, and individual aspects of being human which we all engage multiple times a day.

A small sampling of research I learned from:

• 4 (!) presentations on cellular meat — all used different methods, theoretical approaches, types of data, & made very different arguments. Hearing them all together was fantastic — way to go, program committee! Andreja Vezovnik Melis Aras Sandrine Barrey Madhura Rao Weiyu Zhang

• Collecting stories about food. I had tears in my eyes following one of the stories shared by Meredith Abarca about intergenerational communication through food.

• In a keynote, Susan Kovacs presented on #FoodDemocracy and #FoodLiteracy; later that day, Rebecca Wells shared the process of simplifying communication about food systems to improve food literacy. The next day, Markéta Supkova shared some French experiences toward a “FOOD CITIZENSHIP” — individual and collective agency to shape the food system!

• Food packaging as communicating food values: some innovative interventions advancing food democracy and addressing food insecurity through packaging, including food bank bags & meal kits. Surprise, surprise: working WITH communities to understand their needs, perceptions, and preferences, is essential. Simona De Iulio Jessica Horne Paulien Decorte Charlotte De Backer

I had fun talking school lunches with a Canadienne Manon Niquette and an Austrian Georg Vogt. And the presentations I got to watch included participants from France, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Sweden, UK. WHEW!

But it also attracts participants from the Asia (Singapore in the house!) and the Americas (Canada, California, Mexico, & Texas!) (pero la representación de América Latina hace falta & we could use some African voices!).

Maybe because people who study food know that food is more than fuel; meals are opportunities to bond, share cultures, and make memories.

Have you ever been to a conference with a quiz? Well, how about one that had participants share songs featuring foods? (With extra credit for performing said songs. Mexico represented with a song about mayonnaise The Brand Supplements Studio, Sweden about sausage, and Denmark got audience participation with a lip-smacking song about porridge.)

Thank you to the Program Committee Dr Ana Tominc Andreja Vezovnik Simona De Iulio Helen Andersson Radhika Mittal Jonathan Leer!

Fascinated by Cristina Romanelli‘s argument that FOOD is COMMUNICATION (what is served, how it is served, and what changes are made for vegetarians) and that SPACE is COMMUNICATION (the spatial configuration and interactions with others in the space affect our experience).

Naomi Fallon gave a master class on methods in analyzing power in food systems as she walked us through her critical discourse analysis of policymaking.

Jessica Horne questions the narrative promoted by meal kit companies on reducing the mental load of food preparation--an appeal to white middle-class consumers that doesn’t translate to food access interventions, where we need to work with communities to develop comprehensive solutions to problems they identify.

Paulien Decorte Unpacked the ways people make recipes their own.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this conference, and especially to those who made it happen. I am energized and more excited than ever to keep talking food and communication!

For more about this network:

http://www.foodcommunication.net/