FVRG recent events and updates

The Food Values Research Group has been fortunate this year to have been joined by some excellent speakers on a range of interesting and varied topics.

A few weeks ago, Anthropologist Dr Georgina Drew came to explain and discuss the ways that villagers in India used Gandhian-inspired repertoires of resistance to frame water rights within a moral economy of rural development, as communities successfully fought the development a Coca-Cola bottling plant near agricultural lands.

Earlier, back in May, we were lucky enough to have Associate Professor Kerry Wilkinson come and introduce us to the world of entomophagy (eating insects). She talked about the nutritional, environmental and economic benefits that edible insects provide, and presented her research on consumer attitudes toward eating insect products.

A surprisingly large portion of the Australian population have neutral or favourable attitudes towards eating insects, though the type of insect and the form of the product make a considerable difference! Kerry discussed how producers attempting to promote insect consumption can overcome attitudinal barriers that currently present a challenge for the industry. Finally, we also got to try some examples of some of these tasty insect snacks!

There will be no seminar event on in July while Rachel is away. However, put our August 1st event in your diary - Associate Professor Eva Kemps from Flinders University is coming to speak to us on a topic that I'm sure most of us can relate to: Chocolate, chips, and pizza: It’s just so hard to say ‘no’! Further information will be available closer to the event, and in the meantime the upcoming event schedule can be found here.