OneConcinco: Sitting at the Table to Change the Food System

What happens when we sit down at the table?

More than just sharing food happens: conversations are opened, glances are exchanged, agreements are built and, sometimes, different futures are imagined.

That is the idea behind the third edition of unoconcinco | Sustainable Food Meetings, which will be held on June 18 at the Infinito Delicias space (Madrid). A meeting that, beyond the presentations, proposes a simple but profoundly transformative gesture: to return to the table as a place for dialogue.

In a context marked by the climate crisis, geopolitical tensions and technological changes, the food system is at a decisive moment. How to guarantee access to healthy and sustainable food? What role can public policies, citizens or technological innovation play in this process?

Some of these questions will be at the heart of the programme of this third edition, which will address key issues such as the proposal for Social Security for Food, or the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the production, distribution and consumption of food.

But beyond the themes, what defines unoconcinco is its way of approaching them: from the encounter between diverse voices. Professionals, institutional representatives, actors from the sector and citizens will share a common space to listen, debate and build.

“To design the programming of this third edition, we are driven by the idea of commensality, of how sharing the table generates spaces for dialogue and understanding,” says Adrián Gallero, head of Sustainable Food Programs at the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in Spain. “It is about creating an environment open to all agents in the sector to reinforce that element of social cohesion that unites us in the face of the current environments of polarization.”

Among the confirmed voices are the former Minister of Consumer Affairs Alberto Garzón; Gustavo Duch, from the El Pa Sencer cooperative; Lidón Martrat, from the Joint Office for Sustainable Food; and María Ramos, from Alimentta. They are joined by profiles such as Javier Guzmán, director of Food Justice; Salomé Santos, director of the Agricultural Area of Azucarera; the economist Tomás García Azcárate; or the journalist Nuria Tesón, who will provide a geopolitical look at the current context.

The meeting will also feature disseminators and key agents in the sector such as Zinnia Quirós (Madre Brava), Claudia Polo (Soul In The Kitchen) or Santi Donaire, among others.

Throughout the different sessions, urgent issues will be addressed, such as the role of Artificial Intelligence in the transition to more accessible and sustainable systems, the future of kitchens in the home or the promotion of legumes as an alternative in the protein transition.

“Transforming the food system is not a distant utopia,” says Lucía Casani, director of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in Spain. “More and more agents are getting involved and a process of change is being articulated on many fronts. Listening, dialoguing, proposing and sharing solutions is the way in which unoconcinco can contribute to generating fairer and more sustainable food systems.”

In this third edition, unoconcinco is once again proposed as something more than a meeting: as a space where ideas are shared, contrasted and, above all, put in common. Because, sometimes, changing a system starts with something as simple, and as powerful, as sitting at the table.