Events & Media | 10 Jun 2025
FOODCastS Episode 1: How do we get to a healthy and sustainable food system?
Step into the world of sustainable food systems with FOODCastS, a podcast series powered by FOODPathS. Each episode unpacks a different ‘puzzle piece’ of food systems, offering insights, inspiration, and actions to ease the transformation.
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0Launched during the FOODPathS Festival (May 2025), the new podcast series FOODCastS opens the door to understanding the rich and complex puzzle of sustainable food systems.
So, what can you expect from the first episode?
Motivations behind the food system enthusiasts
Our debut discussion gets personal — exploring what motivates our guests to do the work they do.
- Aniek Hebinck is drawn to the intersectionality of food systems, a field where global, individual, environmental, and social factors collide. Despite focusing more on biodiversity and ecosystems recently, her passion remains unchanged.
- Million Belay’s journey began with sustainable agriculture, eventually expanding to global food system dialogues, driven by the decolonization movement to bring grassroots organizations into larger conversations.
- As for Hugo De Vries, he believes that food as a primary human need is undervalued and deserving of a collective, system-wide examination.
🧭Why the need for a change?
The conversation shifts to why fundamental changes in our food systems are necessary. Aniek Hebinck highlights the need to overcome deep-seated resistance and the dominance of economic considerations over food security and environmental needs. Million Belay points out the dangers of global dialogues overlooking localized necessities, stressing the need for changes at the company level to truly transform food systems. Hugo de Vries supports the notion of diversified, place-sensitive solutions, a sentiment echoed by the UN Food Systems Summit’s inclusive approach.
Navigating systemic challenges
Our panelists recognize current progress and remaining systemic challenges. Aniek Hebinck mentions the advancement in integrating diverse actors in research, although she argues for long-term engagements to institutionalize knowledge. Million and Hugo acknowledge that despite progress in narratives and partnerships, the tangible impact on societal and planetary indicators remains uncertain. Each speaker calls for a recalibration of power relationships within food systems, empowering local movements to reclaim narratives around food.
🌱What gives hope?
As we look to the future, Aniek Hebinck draws hope from communities practicing food sovereignty and balancing economic activity within environmental limits. On the other hand, Million Belay sees potential in ecological strategies embraced by African nations and the collapse of unsustainable globalization patterns. Finally, Hugo de Vries remains optimistic about grassroots dynamics gaining momentum and environmental awareness fostering change in consumption behaviors.
In wrapping up this rich discussion, our panelists underscore the necessity of creativity, communal effort, and accepting boundaries within food systems to ensure a sustainable future. With the hope expressed by each guest, there is a shared determination that despite challenges, progress is both possible and essential.
🎧Ready to listen? Tune in to Episode 1 of FOODCastS here and dive into the deeper motivations behind food systems change.👇
Speakers of this show
- Aniek Hebinck is a Senior Researcher at the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions, where she focuses on understanding and enabling transformative change, particularly in food systems and sustainability governance. Her work draws on critical foresight, transition thinking, resilience theory, and development sociology to explore how change is framed, what enables or blocks it, and how it intersects with justice. She leads and contributes to several EU-funded projects, including BIONEXT, SHARED GREEN DEAL, and the European Topic Centre, and is also active in teaching and supervising students in the Master Societal Transitions programme.
- Million Belay is the Coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty for Africa, a continental network advocating for sustainable and equitable food systems. With over two decades of experience, he focuses on agroecology, intergenerational learning, and the rights of local communities to seed and food sovereignty. He is a founding member of MELCA-Ethiopia, serves on the IPES-Food panel, and advises the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition. Holding a PhD in environmental learning, Million’s work emphasizes knowledge exchange, participatory mapping, and advocacy to strengthen biocultural diversity and resilience.
- Hugo de Vries is research director at INRAE’s Scientific Directory Team ‘Food and Bioeconomy’, France. He is Past-President of the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST), member of the FAO-led International Sustainable Bioeconomy Working Group, and coordinator of the European Project ‘FOODPathS’ (Co-creating the Prototype ‘Sustainable FOOD Systems PArTnersHip’). He is associated international member of the French Academy of Agriculture. Previously, he was heading the Joint Research Centre IATE (transformation of renewable resources into food, biomaterials and bioenergy), and the Food Research Centre of Wageningen UR. He obtained a PhD at the edge of physics and ecology.
- Florentin Ndizeye is the collaborative projects manager at EUFIC and is the host of this podcast episode.
