Gastronomy is at a crossroads. Against the backdrop of ecological, societal, and political instability, the ways we produce, cook, consume, eat, and tell stories about food are seriously challenged. Food production and consumption account for approximately 30% of CO2 emissions, while food distribution has become increasingly unequal, with far-reaching consequences for human and animal welfare, public health, and economic systems. Additionally, gastronomy is challenged by geopolitical instability, climate change, and intensifying pressures on land use, biodiversity, water systems, and global food supply chains. In response to crisis and uncertainty, sustainability as a just ‘green transition’ has risen to the top of the food agenda, alongside an urgent call for new knowledge, food democracy, and transformative actions across the food system. 
This gathering invites researchers, culinary professionals, agro-ecologists and food producers and food enthusiasts to explore new avenues for gastronomy together, interrogate dilemmas with curiosity and care, and confront the consequences of our relationship with food with a commitment to nourishing futures. Together, we will consider how societal challenges affect gastronomy through thinking with these questions.

• How can we combine responsibility and pleasure in a time of crisis?
• What new thoughts and actions are needed to facilitate collective and just transformation of our food system?
• Which new connections should we nurture in order to support a green direction for gastronomy?

Gastronomy in Transition will cultivate a participatory, collaborative, and generative environment, where reflection, experimentation, and shared learning are as important as formal presentations. Through experimental workshops and guided discussions participants will be invited to engage with uncertainty, spark new ideas, and collectively imagine the future of food.
Thus, the conference will establish a dynamic forum for creativity, dialogue, and knowledge exchange, bringing together researchers, educators, food writers, chefs, retailers, farmers, and food producers. Building on the philosophy of eco-gastronomy and food system thinking, the event emphasizes connectivity, experimentation, and collaboration. Designed to foreground procedural inquiry, explore innovative platforms, and generate collective knowledge, Gastronomy in Transition offers both a space to think together and an opportunity to shape the emerging directions of gastronomy in a rapidly changing world.

The design of the conference

We are inspired by the deep roots of the term gastronomy, specifically its etymological origins in Greek, which can be understood as the “law of the stomach”. The French scholar Brillat-Savarin explored the intricate relationship between food, enjoyment, and human existence and insisted on the centrality of taste. Such taste-centric focus plays a role in the Slow Food movement’s focus on ’good, clean and fair’ food, that resonates with wider food systems thinking, agroecology, and green transitions. The conference will build on and develop new eco-gastronomical approaches from a holistic perspective that explore the connections between humans, the living environment, and the future of the planet.

In order to cultivate creativity, collaboration, and pleasure, we have designed the conference around the format of “The Seven Tables.” Each table will be dedicated to a distinct approach to the research, study and practice of gastronomy led by members of the organizing committee. We will curate interactive spaces for workshops, experiments, and hands-on engagement, encouraging participants to actively contribute by exchanging ideas and co-creating knowledge. By connecting the tables together at pivotal points and facilitating movement through different spaces and venues, both within the university to an inspiring day trip to Det Grønne Museum, participants will immerse themselves in diverse practices, interact across thematic approaches, and shape new ways of thinking together, generating a dynamic environment of curiosity, conversation, and collaboration.

The Seven Tables will work across the three days throughout the conference. Through the careful curation of our convenor, the discussions from the Seven Tables will be woven into a common thread, revealing the connections and overarching insights that emerge across the conference.