Author Archives: Madhura Rao

Madhura is a food system scholar and postdoctoral fellow at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Her research explores how the transition to a sustainable food system can be achieved while empowering citizens and ensuring the inclusion of marginalised stakeholders.
A hand holds a white plate with pumpkin-shaped pasta mixed with pieces of cooked zucchini, sundried tomatoes, and salad leaves. In the background, there is an orange-coloured box of pasta with the words ‘veggi pasta – pumpkin zucca’ written on it.

Belly Versus Bin: How Digital Autoethnography Brought Me Back From the Brink of Disordered Eating

Content and Trigger Warning: This post contains commentary and reflections about disordered eating. In September 2019, I responded to an advertisement by a Dutch university for a PhD student interested in the policy and societal aspects of food waste valorisation. With a strong interest in sustainable food systems and an academic background in food supply chains and regulatory affairs, I seemed to fit the bill. I had not studied food waste before, but I felt a strong moral connection to the subject and the idea of investigating ways to better utilise food waste as a resource appealed to me. Following a successful interview, I was appointed to work on the project for a period of four years. In the months that followed, I dove head-first into literature on food waste. I learned that one third of all food produced on the planet ends up as waste while one in three people (read more...)