We just published a wonderfully hopeful interview with Tara Shyam, Executive Director of @regen10.bsky.social an alliance whose mission is to change the entire food system, resiliently, regeneratively and responsibly. Images: @kadirvanlohuizen.bsky.social thecommontable.eu/how-to-feed-...

It's not news that there is something pretty toxic about the fine-dining industry. Instances of abuse and mental health issues abound. We sought out a Michelin-starred chef who has been through the system and thought long and hard about system change. thecommontable.eu/remove-the-a...

"Whether the strategy succeeds could depend less on its legislation than on whether the cultural understanding of soil shifts from background condition to central actor." The EU Soil Strategy's Soil Monitoring Law went into force in December 2025, but is it enough to save our soils and ourselves?

In The Last Harvest, we feature a beautiful documentary film by Dan Saladino and the Gaia Foundation about ecologist, scientist, and farmer Dr Debal Deb, who has spent decades working with his community to save over 1,400 rice varieties from extinction.

The Burnt Chef Revolution: In a timely interview, Kris Hall, the founder of The Burnt Chef Project, discusses how he came to found a global mental health support network for the hospitality industry – a professional field renowned for its toxic work environments. thecommontable.eu/the-burnt-ch...

The strange story of WWII veteran Stanley Green, who spent 25 years, from 1968 to 1993, standing on the corner of Oxford Street in London, urging people to adopt a low-protein diet and dampen their passions. Was he a proto-incel or a beacon of resilience – or both? thecommontable.eu/beans-peas-n...

The Future is Ancestral: "They are not farmers anymore; they are the guardians of the environment. They’re keepers of knowledge. What they need to do is not just produce crops, but produce life." thecommontable.eu/the-future-i...

How can grassroots support of local producers, regional ecology and traditional practice work without commercial exploitation? By making education the product. Our latest interview is with a honey expert in Oaxaca.

"If you go to difficult places and start talking about something as common and good as cooking, eating, and food traditions, then you can break through some of the alienation between readers and subjects." There is so much to learn through the lens of food.

“The preparation, textures, and slowness of food scenes in Ghibli films, such as the clatter of bowls, steam rising from soups, and the slurping sounds of characters eating, all evoke sensory comfort; a cinematic version of a warm hug.”

Supply chain transparency and integrity are not just good practice; they are also becoming mandatory. Food industry expert William Harris and Cynthia Asaf of Pacifical talking about why digital technology is a game-changer for the industry, with implications for supply chain monitoring worldwide.

Can Food Design improve our relationships with food, or is it just fancy plating? OxfordFoodSymposium’ Kitchen Table & @thecommontable.eu invited Priya Mani, Sonia Massari, @fparasecoli.bsky.social, Laila Snevele, @sophielovell.com & Orlando Lovell to discuss. thecommontable.eu/food-design-...

We need to talk about Food Design. thecommontable.eu/food-design-...

“What if the settlers had arrived and had agreed to coexist instead? I wonder if we would have had a robust, very cool food culture by now. Because they were so hell-bent on disappearing us, we never got that cross-cultural exchange and an evolution of what American food truly could have been.”

“One day, while watching them, I thought: what if these birds could cooperate and create their own alphabet?” A multi species food alphabet by @curly_mads. thecommontable.eu/wild-birds-f... #thecommontable #curlymads #wildbirds #wildbirdsalphabet #pictoplasma #foodalphabet #risoprint

“Every morning, I visit a large urban park near my home to watch birds.” artist @curly_mads tells the story of herWild Birds Food Alphabet. thecommontable.eu/wild-birds-f... Wild Birds Food Alphabet — The Common Table #thecommontable #curlymads #wildbirds #foodalphabet #pictoplasma

We invited Systems Change Designer Ashley Scarborough to The Common Table to share how she redesigned her own professional path and found food systems as her medium.

Adjust your preconceptions about Food Design by joining the Oxford Food Symposium Kitchen Table panel talk online with the founders of The Common Table and others here tomorrow May 13th 6pm CEST on Zoom

If you want to understand how we ended up in this mess, you go to an expert. The Common Table talked to political economist @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social about her banging new book: "Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why It Matters".

Just as we understand individual ingredients, like apples or crisps, to be expressions of systems, The Common Table is an expression of a system initiated by studio_lovell. It is designed to be a hospitable space for learning to ask better questions.

The Common Table's founders studio_lovell were invited to co-design an immersive dining experience and give a keynote at the #HotelschoolTheHague for their Future of Food course in Amsterdam. We talked about learning to ask better questions & understanding ingredients as expressions of systems.

Now more than ever it is so important to question the narratives we are fed. Our interview with Fabio Aranzulla and Luca Cinquemani aka Aterraterra, whose interdisciplinary work questions accepted narratives within agriculture and food cultures, just went online. We'd love to hear your feedback.

Another agreeable Monday morning provocation 🍄

An enjoyable Monday morning provocation

Game changer?

Reading list

Food systems are emerging as a new focus of investigative cultural practice. The Common Table talked to curator and researcher Meriç Öner, former Director at Salt in Istanbul, who brings a unique perspective to the intersection of food, culture and art. thecommontable.eu/foods-capaci...

The Oxford Real Farming Conference 2025 sessions are now online for everybody. There were some amazing talks. Well worth listening in, particularly Unpicking Food & Farming Misinformation, Is a Fossil-free Food System Possible and Roots of Resistance. 🌱🥬🌾💚

Seed sovereignty is a vital issue.

Embracing food thinking not only facilitates an accessible, inclusive path to understanding and nurturing thriving ecologies by building and maintaining healthy relationships, it is essential to survival.

Food is everything

What if there was a more inclusive way to approach the design process than “design thinking”? One that is based, not on “things” or “problems” but on building and maintaining healthy relationships instead? 1/3 thecommontable.eu/food-thinking/

We love beans

New newsletter just dropped at The Common Table. Sign up if you would like to receive the next one. thecommontable.eu/newsletter/

Main finding: 'Global warming for 0.5 W/m² ship forcing today is 0.2°C' The vast majority of the decrease in reflected sunlight, increase in Absorbed Solar Radiation and additional warming occurs over the Northern Hemisphere, where most of us live and will be affected!

A timely conversation with Food Studies professor Fabio Parasecoli on gastronativism (the “ideological use of food in politics to advance ideas about who belongs to a community”) the weaponising of food in politics and systemic thinking in a design context. thecommontable.eu/gastronativi...

We had a chat with Food Studies professor @fparasecoli.bsky.social about gastronativism (the “ideological use of food in politics to advance ideas about who belongs to a community”) and it turned into a fascinating conversation about “us”, “them”, food, politics, and systemic thinking. Have a read!

“We use huge amounts of land for the cultivation of commodities we actually need less of, like sugar beet and maize, which, while profitable, are often not used to nourish our communities.”

Timely read

“The old world is dying, and the new world is struggling to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” Antonio Gramsci Little monster by @aetherelf.bsky.social

Also worth mentioning (sorry if you're already aware) @adamcalo.bsky.social has a substack on land reform adamcalo.substack.com

How is this possible? Who cares if there's "lack of public support". A completely unique 6000 year old site that provides evidence of early farming technology, right now when the climate is collapsing? How is that not interesting? Protect the fucker www.independent.ie/irish-news/c...

Someone should make a Koyaanisquatsi-like film following the path of an individual ingredient in the global food chain. No words, just the journey and the animals, people and places along the way.

What do you think are the right policy supports to help this transition for farmers and people in the food industry? asks @tabledebates.bsky.social Matthew Kessler of regenerative food systems expert Rupert Simons @systemiq.bsky.social Oxford Real Farmers Conference #ORFC25

Loving this discussion. What do you think are the right policy supports to help this transition? asks @tabledebates.bsky.social Matthew Kessler of agroecologist and agricultural biodiversity expert Emile Frison @ipes-food.org Oxford Real Farmers Conference #ORFC25

What do we need to do right now to move toward a fossil-fuel-free system? @tabledebates.bsky.social 's Matthew Kessler asks farmer Helen Browning @thesoilassociation.bsky.social Oxford Real Farmers Conference #ORFC25

Is a Fossil-Free Food System Possible? What might an agroecological food system look like in practice? Oxford Real Farmers Conference #ORFC25 panel from @tabledebates.bsky.social's Matthew Kessler with Rupert simons, Emile Frison @ipes-food.org and Helen Browning @thesoilassociation.bsky.social

Two devastating sentences stuck in our heads from yesterday's day 1 of the #ORFC25 spoken by agroecologist George McAllister about the destruction of land and farming in Gaza. rooted-magazine.org/2024/08/01/w...

"From Ubuntu to Kapwa: Earth Wisdom and Regenerative Design in Food Systems". The moving close to day one of #ORFC25 with Sonita Mbah, Konkankoh Joshua, Mamerto Tindongan, Margarita Zethelius, Sarah Queblatin, Ati Seygundiba Quigua Izquierdo and Charlotte Dufour.