Food on the Edge: The future of food is a sustainable future

This article is a review of “Food on the Edge (FOTE)”, a symposium which ran in Galway, Ireland in October 2015 on the theme of “the future of food”. The aim of FOTE is to create a benchmark for best practice, in terms of food, its culture, and the people who produce it. According to the Symposium's founder and organiser, J. P. McMahon, “chefs everywhere have a responsibility to be the avant-garde of food education, whether in the context of fine-dining or street food”. The focus of FOTE seemed more on fine dining than street food, however, from a cursory glance at the panel, three-quarters of whom had been awarded Michelin stars at some time, and one quarter of whom currently feature in the 2015 world's top 100 restaurants. Only five of the speakers were women, the majority being white males. There was a real international flavour to this gathering, however, with representatives of 17 different countries speaking. This article provides an overview of the 39 presentations where the key themes emerging include sustainability, education, creativity, the need to know about your history, the links between chefs and producers, food and health, family dining, and the shortage of chefs.