Sustainable Food: Consumption and Production  A

Semester & Location:	Summer 2024 - DIS Copenhagen Session 2
Type & Credits:	3 credits
Study Tours:	Italy, June 24-28
Major Disciplines:	Environmental Studies, Public Policy, Sustainability
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty Members:	Morten Hedegaard Larsen
Time & Place:	Times vary (see calendar) Classroom: N7-A21 (Nørregade 7)

Course Description

Sustainable change in our food production and consumption is possible, and this course will provide students with knowledge, insights and experiences that will provide concrete tools to help understand and make these changes. 
In this course we will try and make sense of what a sustainable food system looks like now and in the near future. We will investigate different initiatives, technologies and organizations that make our production and consumption of food more sustainable, as well as laying bare the many practices that are currently unsustainable.

The  course will, therefore, both lay bare the complexity of our food systems while keeping a focus on concrete and innovative solutions that reshape our connection to food consumption and production. These solutions recognize and address the environmental and social impacts of food. Central questions to be explored include: How can we achieve more sustainable diets and inclusive food systems while producing less waste? How can individuals and organizations alike make a difference to our food systems?  How do cities help shape more sustainable food practices?

Eating is an agricultural act, farmer and food writer Wendel Berry so accurately reminds us. 
This statement has become even more potent with the many possible food challenges the world faces due to climate change as well as sustainability issues relating to the way we produce, store, distribute, sell and enjoy food as consumers ultimately. The global food system is extremely complex and the ways to ensure that it will become more sustainable are myriad and dependent on many different factors beyond production/farming but also relates to specific political, socio-economic and cultural issues. The “Arab Spring”, for instance, was directly correlated to high food prices in the region- we might be only seven meals away from anarchy! This means that the policies framing our food systems carry an immense importance, and this course will try and lay bare some of most important structural issues and policies guiding our food systems both nationally and internationally. 



Denmark has over the last three decades gone through great changes in the way food is produced, consumed, and for many consumers a new awareness about sustainable issues has taken hold as the risks and challenges of food production in the “Anthropocene age” becomes more visible. One of the most important phenomena to have changed the production and consumption of food is the “organic revolution” which means that 10% of all foods sold are now organic in Denmark.

Our week-long study trip will take us to Torino (Turin) Italy's forth largest city. Turin has historically been a large manufacturers hub (cars predominantly), but as the the fortunes of Italian manufacturing took a downturn in the late nineties, Turin has had to re-invent itself- and it has! Today it has installed ambitions urban food policies working together with a growing number of alternative food networks and NGO’s to make procurement and consumption of foods more sustainable, including participation in a large EC funded food research project FUSILI. Most prominently it hosts the bi-annual global sustainable food event Terra Del Madre and the Piemonte region is also the ‘birth-place’ of the Slow Food Movement

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course students will be able to:

- Identify and understand the global challenges of sustainable food production and consumption

- Critically assess sustainable food production and consumption from multiple perspectives

- Understand the complexity of national and global food systems and its main actors and organizations

- Engage in critical discussions regarding sustainable food initiatives

- Analyse different food consumption and production practices

- Draw up tentative solutions to selected sustainable food issues on the basis of theory and hands-on experiences

Faculty

 Morten Hedegaard Larsen holds a PhD in Food Studies/Sociology (2016 Planning and Development, Aalborg University) and has published papers on food myths, agricultural experiences and social factors to explain obesity, for instance. Originally he holds a MA in Communication Studies from Roskilde University (2010). He wrote master thesis on the development of the Western Food Market. For the last five years Morten has held positions as assistant professor and post.doc at Aalborg University and Copenhagen University. There he acted as lecturer, coordinator and developer at the masters program Integrated Food Studies and taught courses on communication, staging and consumption of food, innovation and entrepreneurship, food concept design and sustainable food systems. In recent years he has also been involved in food innovation and food start-up research projects. Morten was, also, the first communications officer for the largest Danish food hall "TorvehallerneKBH". With DIS since 2021.

Readings

Selected Readings from the course:

Fassio, F.; Minotti, B. Circular Economy for Food Policy: The Case of the RePoPP Project in The City of Turin (Italy). Sustainability 2019, 11, 6078. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216078 

Korsbæk Andersen (2011)  Organic food and the plural moralities of food provisioning  Download Organic food and the plural moralities of food provisioning 

Journal of Rural Studies 27 (2011) 440-450 

Clapp J. The problem with growing corporate concentration and power in the global food system.
Nat Food. 2021 Jun;2(6):404-408. doi: 10.1038/s43016-021-00297-7

Steffen et al. (2015) Planetary Boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science Vol. 347 no. 6223

Willet et al (2019) Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet 393(10170). 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4

Belasco, Warren (2012), ' Food and Social Movements', in Jeffrey M. Pilcher (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Food History, Oxford Handbooks 

McGreevy, SR et. al. (2022) Sustainable agrifood systems for a post-growth world', Nature Sustainability, vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 1011-1017. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00933-5

 

Field Studies

Visits will include the following locations: 

Byens Landhandel-a hyper local grocer

Seerupgaard -  A local organic farm

The Market Garden at the Copenhagen Hospitality School

Experts ("Field Lecturers")

Rikke Pape Thomsen. Owner and Founder of Byens Landhandel an innovative food shop selling sustainable food products in Nørrebro.

Anne Lindhardt Co-founder and CEO of Ristet Rug and sustainable food entrepreneur

Liv Thomsen Gardener at the Copenhagen Hospitality School

Mathilde Heldt Rönnow Project Manager for Copenhagen Municipality's Food and Meal- Strategy

 

Approach to Teaching

The methods used to cover class materials include lectures, videos, discussions, individual and group presentations, guest lectures, and field trips. Periodically we will split up into smaller groups to review and analyze the material more thoroughly. The course will have out-of-the-class-room sessions on location to experience the different facets of food first hand. Students are expected to be able to find and be at the external locations on time. The external locations will not be far from DIS's location and maps and addresses will be given in advance. Office hours are held after class or by appointment. 

Expectations of the Students

I expect you to attend all class sessions unless prevented by an emergency. If you are not in class, you cannot participate. I expect you to complete all the assigned reading and come to class prepared to discuss it in depth. I expect you to turn in assignments on time.

Students are not allowed to use a laptop or smartphone in class. Considerations will, of course, be taken if you have special needs for a computer for note-taking. Please speak to the Office of Academic Support to request accommodations.

All students are expected to have completed the course readings before class so that we can discuss the material at the right level. It is important to be well prepared for class because I may randomly select students to give key points on the readings for that day.

Students are expected to participate actively in all classes and field studies and be open-minded to their fellow student’s contributions to the class. The aim is to establish an environment where we can learn from each other as well as from the texts and cases we engage with, and you are expected to actively support this approach.

 

Assignments and Evaluation

Presentation of a Text from the curriculum - Individual Presentation + Upload

 

Active Participation and Class Engagement
Participation and engagement entails among others: active participation in class discussions, preparation for each class, reflection on readings and sessions, active participation in field studies, sharing and writing of journals in and outside of class. 
Evaluation criteria (Ongoing):
Demonstrate having read carefully for each session
Participate actively in class discussions
Contribute with original perspectives from previous experience, courses
Doing assignments carefully and timely
Partaking constructively in field studies.

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Presentation of a Text from the curriculum - Individual Presentation + Upload	15%
Study Tour Case-Analysis - Group Presentation and upload	25%
Essay: Food, Power and Sustainability	35%
Active Participation and Class Engagement	25%

 

 
Academic Regulations (Summer)

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org