The Story of Food (2015)

In September 2015, the first ETH Week ‘The Story of Food’ took place on Campus Hönggerberg. Almost 130 ETH participants from 15 departments and 27 countries formed 12 interdisciplinary teams. We had invited over 20 experts who worked with the participants on their ideas. A specific Downloadworkbook (PDF, 18 MB) was guiding the students through the week. Last, but not least, they were supported by a team of 16 excellent tutors.

"I really enjoyed the freedom of the course. It is about bringing yourself to the problem rather than education bringing it to you."Saad Arshad, Student in Mathematics ETH Zurich

The participants were looking at food, as the fundamental connection between people and the planet because the question of how to feed the world, while taking into consideration human health, the environment, and social wellbeing, is possibly one of the most complex challenges of our time. The world produces sufficient food to enable every single person to have more than the daily recommended calorific intake required for good health. So why do we worry about food security? If we have enough food, why do almost 800 million people go to bed hungry each night? Why are there billions of undernourished people on the planet, while at the same time, over a billion people in the world suffer from obesity—which also has significant impacts in terms of health and chronic disease? Furthermore, how are factors such as global population growth, changing dietary habits, and competition among uses (e.g., for fuel and feed) placing record demands on the consumption side? All of these factors play out within a global political economy that influences prices and incentives, further increasing complexity and volatility.

Have a look at the teams and their ‘stories of food’:

Project D Aware aims to raise awareness about Vitamin D deficiency of elderly people. The team suggested to install non-invasive Vitamin D tests in public restrooms, accompanied by a broad educational campaign. EduAct is an educational program in Swiss schools meant to teach kids about the food system and the implications of our actions on it, aiming to decrease the discrepancy between the societal goal of living sustainably and the individual behavior. In Switzerland, inefficient use of bread accounts for the loss of 500 million CHF per year. The team of the project Brobi suggested to convert stale bread into beer to avoid food waste. In the meanwhile the group has already tested the Russian recipe to brew their own beer. The project Dumpy suggested to add an ‘organic waste car’ on the end of Zurich’s tram line number 17. This would make it far easier for citizens to separate food waste from the rest of municipal solid waste – just on our daily routines. By providing a pre-organized meal for consumers at supermarkets, the project Discovery Meal guarantees a meal containing lower CO ₂ emission than the average meal by a Swiss consumer. To teach kids on how to cook with less than perfect products was the key message of the project Taste of Waste. The team suggested an educational program in primary schools to motivate the next generation and their parents to reduce food waste in Swiss households. In order to reduce the Swiss meat supply chains dependency on non-GMO soy imports from few other countries, the Pineapple Project suggests to collect food waste and transform the input into animal feed via algae. By establishing a community kitchen in the city of Zurich that provides a convenient way for young professionals to have access to healthy home-cooked meals, Zunu offers an alternative to unhealthy diets causing adverse health consequences. The project Micro Meal includes it all: an online questionnaire, a planning tool, and a virtual campaign to inform consumers about their micronutrient intakes. As the lack of these nutrients correlates significantly with deficiency diseases, the project provided an app based approach to contributes to public health in Switzerland. How can small-scale cocoa farmers in West Africa reach a sustainable livelihood while current cocoa prices do not allow them to attain this? The project Coco Love suggested a scheme to solve this problem. By utilizing storytelling and coffee shops it would allow cocoa farmers to be paid more for their product and to overcome intermediaries in the value chain. Another app based approach was chosen by the project Waste no more: This app aims to reduce food waste by telling its users how long they can still store the food in their refrigerators. At the same time, the app provides delicious recipes to cook with the food that is already stored at home – an inspiration to avoid food waste.

In the image carousel above, you can find a short description of the identified problems of the 12 teams that participated. You may also read a more detailed impression of the week in the ETH News or check out the detailed programme and Downloadworkbook (PDF, 1.8 MB) of ETH Week 2015.

"It was incredibly valuable to attend ETH Week 2015. I learned so much about global food issues, had a chance to settle into Zurich and even gained the opportunity to attend a conference with my team later in the semester."Katelyn Currie, Exchange Student in Mechanical Engineering ETH Zurich

Impressions of ETH Week 2015 "The Story of Food"