Upcycled Food: Treasuring Food Waste to Create a More Accessible, Nutritious, and Equitable Food System

Sunday May 19th 2:15 - 3:00 PM PDT

Upcycling rescues nutrient-rich materials from food waste – supporting the food as medicine movement by providing a wider population with access to healthy food options, therefore supporting greater equity in health and well-being across the population. This presentation is a call to action - encouraging individuals, businesses, and policymakers to support upcycling initiatives (and companies), to give dignity back to our food and reconsider our food system's "waste" recognising its potential value for health, society, and the environment.

This session will outline the definition and standards associated with upcycled foods, showcase the development of upcycled food products and debunk myths. Attendees will leave this session understanding how upcycling is a critical enabler to future-proof food systems, making them more affordable and accessible to a broader population, thereby addressing issues of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Bio: Lara Ramdin, BSc Hons, PhD

A graduate of both Cardiff (BSc Hons) and Southampton Universities (PhD), Dr. Lara Ramdin’s name is synonymous with innovation and a forward-thinking approach that marries sustainability with the burgeoning "food is medicine" movement. Her approach to upcycling food — the sophisticated and environmentally crucial practice of creatively reusing by-products, waste materials, or unwanted items to produce new materials or products of nutritionally-higher quality — is not just science, it's a narrative. She excites and engages audiences not with mere facts and figures, but with a vision of a feasible, sustainable world enriched by a deeper understanding of how our food choices influence our health and our planet. Dr. Ramdin has a knack for distilling complex scientific concepts into digestible, relatable insights. Attendees won't just leave with knowledge; they'll leave with a plan. 

"The Food as Medicine Global conference surpassed all of my expectations. Online conferences can be difficult to pay attention to, but not this one, each speaker was unique, interesting, and brought new perspectives. I felt this conference was so much more than the same old ideas, it was fresh and exciting ideas around food as medicine by speakers who were making a difference in their communities. I felt that this conference is just the beginning of building an incredible and diverse community to advance food as medicine globally."

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Our Why

The idea of food as medicine makes sense to many working in health care and food production. More and more, nutrition is centered in health professional training, patient care, and conversations around farming, fishing, ranching, and other foodways. However, people across many communities who want to eat well cannot access healthy or even enough food. Many of those producing and providing our food and health care navigate a multitude of inequities.



Join us in creating a more equitable and inclusive food as medicine movement!

 Food as Medicine Global is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization 

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2023 Impact Report

Acknowledgments

Food as Medicine Global Logo design by Cassandra Lee Houston