Category Archives: sustainability

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | March 12, 2025 · 2:38 pm

What’s Cooking, May 2025

What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to SHUFood: Sheffield Hallam University’s food research cluster, comprising, CHEFS (exploring the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink), SWEFS (exploring drivers and interventions to address food waste), and SHARe (exploring appetite regulation and modulation). What’s been cooking since our last edition?

With the coming of spring, we’re tidying house, refreshing our events, and making some important changes.

First, we’ve decided to streamline our communications. This is the final edition of What’s Cooking! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our 34 editions – all still available via the News page, and searchable on the blog site. Going forward, we’ll be sharing updates straight off the back of SHUFood Research Chats, via the News page.

We’ve also bid adieu to X (so long, Elon!), and will now send out information via the SHUFood News page. To receive updates and SHUFood news, be sure that you’re subscribed to the blog. See the subscribe option at the bottom of each SHUFood page.

For social media updates on food research across Sheffield Hallam University, we encourage you to follow the Advanced Food Innovation Centre on LinkedIn.

Second, SHUFood Research Chats are changing from monthly to quarterly gatherings. The SHUFood leads (Jordan Beaumont, Jennifer Smith Maguire, Pallavi Singh) will be taking turns hosting. Our next chat will be on 8 May 2025 (2.30-3.30) with Jen as host. See details on the SHUFood Events page, including the Teams link.

Third, we’ve tidied up the SHUFood Members Page. Would you like to be listed? Submit your information here.

Finally, we’re excited to announce that SHUFood will be running a “Sheffield Food and Nutrition Research Workshop” on 13 May, in collaboration with University of Sheffield. The event will explore how key stakeholders from across the city can work together to address local, regional and national priorities around nutrition and public health. Attendees will have the opportunity to network and discuss key themes, with keynote presentations from Greg Fell (Director of Public Health in Sheffield) and Dr Craig Leadley (Chief Executive of the Institute of Food Science and Technology). Registration will open soon; we’ll share links and more info via our Events page as soon as they’re available!

Below, we have:

updates from the most recent SHUFood chat, including recent outputs and activities;
upcoming events and calls for papers

Cheers,
The SHUFood Team!

****************************
Updates from the SHUFood Research Chats

Richard Gillis Mostly busy with teaching for the past 3 months, but has started collaboration with old colleagues at Nottingham which has led to a new role – co-lead of National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics. Richard is also working on some data acquisition and writing a paper on arabinogalactans, which he will be presenting this Thursday (06 February) at AFIC’s research seminar. Richard is also co-supervising – with Caroline Millman (DoS) – Seun Seidu who started as a GTA in October and has already acquired some interesting microscopy data on vegan cheese.

Sunil Sahadev Working with Pallavi Singh and colleagues in India on a project exploring eco-labelling, and how easy it is for companies in India to adopt eco-labels. Sunil and Pallavi are also conducting a meta-analysis on label knowledge and trust with colleagues across the world.

Hongwei Zhang Ongoing project with Premier Foods, applying ohmic heating to sauce products, will be coming to an end in March. Hongwei and the team are now planning for challenge testing, and putting together risk assessments. Hongwei has also been invited to Innovate UK’s showcase event on 6th March, and hoping to showcase and disseminate two Innovate UK-funded projects in addition to meeting some new industrial collaborators. Hongwei and the team have been busy submitting applications, including one to an Innovate UK Made Smarter Innovation Project and a GTA application with Jordan Beaumont – this being a perk of the SHUFood chat, bringing together researchers from across the university! Hongwei is also working with Pam Bowman on a very exciting art and design project, incorporating research-informed teaching, to address the UN sustainability goal around reducing hunger.

Pam Bowman Self-confessed professional nosey person! Pam works within the Sheffield Creative Industries Institute, with a college role bringing research into teaching. Pam is interested in food as a broader topic, with food being something every discipline can connect to – a vehicle for multidisciplinary working – a true SHUFood motto.

Pallavi Singh Pallavi and colleagues have submitted an article based on their work with Sheffield City Council, which looked at household food waste collection in Sheffield. While the Council have decided not to continue with the service, the team are working on another project exploring food waste and behaviours in young adults, collecting data from first year undergraduate students. Data collection is ongoing, collected from both SHU and University of Birmingham. The project will come to an end in August, and the team are hoping to develop tangible outcomes/impact that can be taken forward.

Jo Pearce Jo and Claire Wall are progressing with their Impact on Urban Health-funded project exploring food provision and consumption in early years settings within Lambeth and Southwark. They’re currently recruiting schools, with two RAs based in London to do the data collection. Jo and Claire are also writing up findings from their previous study, exploring food provided by early years settings versus packed lunches.

Meg Flint Meg and the team (Jenny Paxman, Simon Bowles, Tony Lynn) have recently had a paper published in International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science around consumer expectations of plant-based meat alternatives. Meg and the team have an additional paper – exploring consumer perceptions of plant-based meat alternatives and the drivers and barriers influencing adoption – is currently under review with Appetite. The final data from Meg’s PhD, a product audit of plant-based and meat-based products, is ready to analyse and the team hope to finalise the work over the next few weeks. In addition to all of that, Meg is also working on the wrap around of the thesis!

Jess Limb Jess is working on a RIPEN-funded project with Caroline Millman and Susie Jones looking at the impact of salt reduction in bread, in collaboration with AB Mauri. Jess has been spending a lot of time down at AB Mauri making lots of bread. The team are also looking for participants to support their sensory panels (see details below!)

Susie Jones In addition to working on the RIPEN-funded project with Jess and the team, Susie and Jess are working on writing up their recent KTP as a teaching case study. Susie is also working with Ruth Whiteside on a consultancy framework paper, based on the Food and Nutrition Consultancy Challenge module.

Jordan Beaumont The Sheffield Children’s Hospital-funded project (with Lucie Nield, Jo Pearce, Claire Wall, Simon Bowles, Rachel Rundle) exploring childhood obesity and food insecurity is finally on the move, with data collection underway for a control group of young people living across South Yorkshire. The dark kitchens project (with the SCH team, plus Helen Martin, David Harness) is also getting closer and closer to the end. The team submitted their second paper – around a definition of dark kitchens, and considerations for key stakeholders – just before the Christmas break. Jordan and Lucie are putting the final touches to the project’s third and final paper, which the team hope to submit shortly.

Elysa Ioannou Working on the ENHANCE project – an evaluation of the Complications from Excess Weight (CEW) clinics which support young people living with obesity. Elysa’s work package involves working with patients and families/carer on their experiences and support needs – the team are hoping to start interviews in next couple of months.

Outputs

Flint, M., Leroy, F., Bowles, S., Lynn, A., & Paxman, J. R. (2025). ‘Meating’ consumer expectations: more work required to improve acceptability of plant-based meat alternative products. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 101102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgfs.2025.101102

Please do email over any outputs to add to future lists, especially if you cannot make the SHUFood chats!

Participant Recruitment

The following projects are looking for participants – please share the projects with those who may be interested in participating!

Trained Sensory Panel
Caroline Millman and Jess Limn are looking for participants to be part of a trained sensory panel for a project focused on salt reduction in bread and sandwiches. The panel will run on a weekly basis for up to a maximum of 5 months, with sessions held at our research facility (City Campus, Sheffield Hallam University). As part of the process, you will be asked to attend an initial visit to assess your suitability for the trained panel. Successful applicants will then receive training and contribute to product assessments during weekly 1-hour visits. If you are interested in joining our panel, your commitment to attend is essential. We will try to schedule sessions at a time in the week that suits you.

Stage 1 of Sam McCormick’s PhD:
We are looking for people who work in a healthcare environment, such as a hospital, in Sheffield who is a Doctor, Nurse, Allied Health Professional or Administrative staff from any ethnicity.

Participants will take part in two focus groups one to share their experiences of the food environment at their place of work and tell us what matters to you and the second to feedback themes and sense-check these are correct.
For stage 2, we would like to hear from immigrant nurses who have lived in the UK for 5 years or less. You are also welcome to take part in stage 1 too.
Sign up: https://forms.office.com/e/7Z8Mr2n5dy

A “deep dive” into the experience of living with obesity in minoritised groups

We’re looking for adults with lived experience of obesity who are from a minority group (e.g., minority/global majority ethnic group, LGBTQIA+).
Participants will complete two one-hour online interviews, and will be asked to take 5-10 photos relating to their experience of living with obesity.
Participants will be provided with a £50 voucher on completion.
Sign up via: https://bit.ly/omnis1

Understanding the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and inhibitory training

We’re looking for adults (18 to 60 years) who are free of neurological, cardiovascular, metabolic and joint disease.
Participants will complete a brief baseline session (20 min) followed by two 90-minute test visits involving a series of questionnaires, tDCS and computer-based tasks.
Participants will be provided with a £50 voucher and health report on completion, and will receive lunch on both test visits.
Sign up via: https://shusls.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_01dr2TXftxkJ47I

Please do email over any recruitment material/ads to add to future lists.

****************************
Upcoming Events and Calls for Papers

SHUFood Research Chats are changing from monthly to quarterly gatherings. The SHUFood leads (Jordan Beaumont, Jennifer Smith Maguire, Pallavi Singh) will be taking turns hosting. Our next chat will be on 8 May 2025 (2.30-3.30) with Jen as host. See details on the SHUFood Events page, including the Teams link.

CFP: Emerging Voices for the Changemaking of Food Systems Workshop (deadline 20 April)
The “Emerging Voices for the Changemaking of Food Systems” Workshop will take place June 11-13 2025, in Montpellier, France, organized by AESOP-Sustainable Food Planning (https://aesopsfp.wordpress.com/). The call is aimed at early-career researchers (PhDs/Postdocs), with a preference for ongoing or recently completed work, to foster peer-to-peer learning on key research and action challenges in food systems and food policy. The related Call for Short Papers is now open, focusing on:
• Emerging approaches to studying food systems and urban food policies
• Innovative and interdisciplinary methodologies
• Socio-ecological justice and the right to food
• Connections between food policy and other strategic areas (climate, logistics, health, transport, housing)

Accepted contributions will be published in a book of proceedings and may serve as the foundation for future collaborations.
• Submission deadline: April 20, 2025
• Venue: Institut Agro Montpellier, France
• No registration fee
• You can find all the event details at this link. For paper submission and any further inquiries, please contact: aesopsustainablefoodplanning@gmail.com

Leave a Comment

Filed under appetite, representations & discourses, research, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, sustainability, Uncategorized, What's Cooking?

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | January 16, 2025 · 1:51 pm

What’s Cooking, January 2025

The National Centre for Excellence in Food Engineering (NCEFE) has now been officially renamed the Advanced Food Innovation Centre (AFIC) to reflect its broad range of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (RIKE) activities more accurately. The AFIC is committed to problem-led, collaborative Research, Innovation, and Knowledge Exchange, delivering impactful solutions for sustainable and healthier food systems. With expertise in food engineering and state-of-the-art facilities, AFIC serves as a dynamic hub for Sheffield Hallam University’s multidisciplinary capabilities for food systems, including materials engineering, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies; nutrition, appetite, consumer behaviour; logistics and supply chain management; packaging and design; and business development. The new, more inclusive and accessible name is designed to engage academic colleagues internally and drive interest in its expertise and capabilities externally. Located at the Olympic Legacy Park, AFIC reflects Hallam’s mission to enable healthier lives through preventative health and drive future economies through knowledge exchange and enterprise. Stay tuned for more information on how to get involved with AFIC as an associate!

Mark your calendars: the first SHUFood Research Chat of 2025 will be Monday 3 February, 2-3pm, on Teams. (Meeting ID: 353 265 550 040; Passcode: bm7Ch6PE) These are informal meetings are for Hallam-based SHUFood and AFIC folks (staff and PGR students) to talk about food/drink research: showcase work, provide updates, discuss plans, explore collaborations… You can bring along updates to share, or just come along to see what everyone else is up to – all are welcome! Please email Dr Jordan Beaumont (j.beaumont@shu.ac.uk) if you need more information.

Below, we have:

updates from the most recent SHUFood chat, including recent outputs and activities;
resources and calls for papers;
the usual call for contributions and content for the mid-March 2025 edition of What’s Cooking. The deadline for submissions (research news and updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to Google Form by Tuesday 11 March.

Cheers,
The SHUFood Team!

****************************

Updates from the SHUFood Research Chats

Hayley Grinter, Dr Rachel Marsden and Dr Pallavi Singh are working on a project around food waste in families with neurodivergent children versus families with neurotypical children. The team have just completed interviews with 10 children/families and are currently transcribing and analysing the data with a view to run focus groups once key themes have been identified. Rachel is also exploring supervision of a self-funded PhD around weight stigma and health behaviours and has recently given an interview around autism and diet, which was the focus of her own PhD research.

Sam Greenstreet has recently joint SHU, having started her PhD in October (supervised by Dr Jordan Beaumont [DoS], Dr Rachel Marsden and Professor Peter Schofield), looking at eating behaviour and weight management in older adults. Sam has submitted the RF1, which has been a good opportunity to plan out the PhD and consider methodology. Meanwhile there has been plenty of inductions, teaching courses/prep and critical thinking! Sam is also developing a project with Jordan for their co-supervised MSc dissertation learning set around factors contributing to overeating, which will like with data collected for phase 1 of the PhD.

Sunil Sahadev is part of a research project looking at eco food labels. Currently running a systematic review around awareness/knowledge of and trust in eco labelling and factors that may influence consumer adoption of eco labels. Sunil and the team are also in the early stages of a study exploring the visual elements of eco labelling and how these may impact consumer engagement.

Hongwei Zhang and colleagues are working on two key projects: (1) way to decarbonise food manufacturing processes within the South Yorkshire region, and (2) scaling up research around ohmic heating, applying to sauce products and in collaboration with Premier Foods. Hongwei is also exploring funding for GTAs, co-supervised by Jordan Beaumont and collaborators from Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Megan Flint is coming towards end of the PhD, which feels like its flown by. The programme of research – supervised by Tony Lynn (DoS), Simon Bowles and Jenny Paxman – involved three phases around plant-based meat alternative: consumer perceptions, nutritional profiles (compared with meat-based products) and sensory evaluation. Working on a number of publications, with some under review and other to be submitted in the next few weeks. In addition, the team have conducted a nutritional audit to compare plant-based meat alternatives with the meat-based products – in background, Meg is updating this audit to hopefully submit as an extra paper.

Elpida Apostolopoulou’s PhD explores place-based policymaking in just transitions, and its role in small and medium enterprise (SME) decarbonisation. Elpida is currently exploring transition to net zero in small scale horticultural enterprises, having returned to Sheffield following data collection in Western Greece. This qualitative work will now be replicated in South Yorkshire to provide comparison, and explore how organisations and policy can supports the transition to net zero.

Jessica Limb recently delivered a presentation at the Advanced Food Innovation Centre (AFIC – was NCEFE) research seminar series. Jess is pretty busy with research, with lots of exciting projects including impact of salt reduction in bread and bakery products in schools – working with Caroline Millman, Susie Jones and Rachel Rundle. Keep an eye out for papers in the near future! Jess also presented a poster at the recent I2RI conference on the work.

The NIHR-funded project exploring dark kitchens (delivery-only takeaways) is finally coming to an end. The team includes Jordan Beaumont, Lucie Nield, Helen Martin, Jo Pearce, Rachel Rundle, Simon Bowles, Claire Wall and David Harness. The team will be submitting their final two papers in early 2025, which includes a paper around defining dark kitchens (in collaboration with three other teams who secured fundings from NIHR, based at Teesside University, University of Cambridge and the University of Central Lancashire). In addition, Jordan (along with a fantastic team of collaborators) recently submitted an exciting NIHR grant application around ultra-processed foods and a couple of PhD/GTA applications. As always, lots of small projects in the works and a few manuscripts being penned.

Sam McCormick’s research is looking at experiences of the food environment for people who work in healthcare by asking what matters to them. Stage 1 will involve recruiting doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and admin staff. Stage 2 focusses specifically on immigrant nurses to co-design a vision of a hospital food environment that better serves them. Sam is currently recruiting – please share this with anyone who works in a healthcare environment in Sheffield.

We are looking for people who work in a healthcare environment, such as a hospital, in Sheffield who is a Doctor, Nurse, Allied Health Professional or Administrative staff from any ethnicity.
Participants will take part in two focus groups one to share their experiences of the food environment at their place of work and tell us what matters to you and the second to feedback themes and sense-check these are correct.
For stage 2, we would like to hear from immigrant nurses who have lived in the UK for 5 years or less. You are also welcome to take part in stage 1 too.
Sign up: https://forms.office.com/e/7Z8Mr2n5dy

Publications

Artificial Intelligence and the food sector: a golden opportunity for growth. Food Science and Technology, 38: 32-35. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsat.3804_8.x

Presentations

Beaumont, J.D. (2024). Weight management in the UK: A tug of war that nobody is winning. Presented at: School of Psychology Research Seminar, Leeds Trinity University / Responsible Consumption and Sustainable Lives Research Theme Seminar, Sheffield Hallam University

Limb, J. (2024). Advancing the Bakery Industry: Healthier Products for UK Schools and Sustainable, Smart Manufacturing. Presented at: Advanced Food Innovation Centre (AFIC) Research Seminar.

Limb, J. (2024). Are healthier reformulated chocolate cookie acceptable to children? Reducing daily sugar consumption of secondary school children by reformulating sweet baked snacks. Presented at: Industry and Innovation Research Institute (I2RI) Conference

Huge thanks to Jordan Beaumont for assembling our updates, and hosting the SHUFood Research Chats!

****************************

Resources and Calls for Papers

SHUFood Research Chats are monthly online meetings that offer a space to talk all things research: showcase work, provide updates, discuss plans, explore collaborations… You can bring along updates to share, or just come along to see what everyone else is up to—all are welcome. Next date: Monday 3 February, 2-3pm. Please email Dr Jordan Beaumont (j.beaumont@shu.ac.uk) if you need more information. Open to all Hallam SHUFood and AFIC staff and PGR students. Join the Teams meeting here.

The Spain Gastronomy Conference 2025 (deadline 31 January)

The Spain Gastronomy Conference will be held in Madrid (Spain) on March 27-29, 2025. Full conference website here. It is organized by the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy (RAG) and the CEU University Institute “Food and Society” (CEU San Pablo University, Madrid), with the support of the International Academy of Gastronomy (IAG).

Key dates:

Deadline for abstract submissions, 31 January, via this submission form
Deadline for early bird registration, 25 February, via this registration form

Royal Geographical Society 2025 Conference – session call for papers (deadline 10 February)

RGS 2025 Conference website, 27-29 August 2025 at the University of Birmingham

Exploring Perceptions, Practices and Politics of Sustainable Food Consumption in Times of Planetary Crisis; Session Organisers: Leonie Tuitjer & Kerstin Nolte

There is a longstanding interest in the role of consumers within research on sustainable food transformations. Research focuses for example on what strategies consumers pursue to reduce adverse environmental impacts of their consumption (e.g. certified foods, veganism, local foods), or what types of sustainable consumption practices are in/de-creasing within parts of the population, and how politics intervene and shape sustainable consumption choices. Much of this research revolves around consumption patterns and practices within routine situations and highlights how consumers and their choices are embedded within daily activities and how choices are afforded/constrained through such everyday settings. Yet, sets of overlapping crises are more than ever part of our everyday lives and understanding the role of crises in sustainable consumption choices is thus crucial for achieving sustainable food transformations within perpetually turbulent times.

In this panel we hence want to explore the ambivalent and at times contradictory effects of crisis on sustainable food consumption. We are interested in how crisis (e.g. climate change) shape consumer’s perceptions and attitudes towards sustainable food consumption. Furthermore, we want to explore how against the background of the climate crisis, e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped sustainable food practices. The closures of canteens, cafés, and restaurants and feared shortages in food supplies, put the topic of nutrition into public focus and altered the way food supplies had to be made during lock downs. In Germany, for example, there was a rise in buying more organic food products, in particular among the wealthy urban middle-class, alongside an increase of ordering takeaway and online grocery deliveries, which increased carbon emissions and waste. Given such paradoxical outcomes some identified the pandemic as an opportunity for sustainable transformations within food production, whilst others warned against rising inequalities during the pandemic that made sustainable consumption a luxury for the rich. In the aftermath of the pandemic and after the outbreak of the Russian war against Ukraine, the world experiences high rates of inflation that explode the costs of living, again jeopardising potential windows of opportunity for sustainable food transformations that emerged in the context of the Covid-19 crisis, and potentially further increasing inequalities. Finally, we encourage paper submissions that explore how the role and relationship of consumers-sellers-producers is altered during times of crisis and attend to alternative practices that emerged in time of crisis (e.g. food sharing schemes; food-waste reduction apps etc.).

For this session we invite papers that make conceptual or empirical contributions to the topic. In line with this year’s conference theme, we are also looking forward to include papers that draw on creative methods (e.g. participatory, visual or sensory accounts of food practices in times of crisis) to address some of the below questions:

How can we theorise the impacts of multiple- / planetary-/ poly- /overlapping- crises on sustainable food consumption?
How do crises affect people’s perception of sustainable consumption?
How do providers and producers of sustainable food experience multiple crises? Do these crises represent opportunities or challenges for the supply side?
Do crisis affect sustainable food practices and if so: how do these effects take form?
What role does the type of crisis (e.g. health/ financial, environmental or short-term shock, long-term crisis) play for potentially altered food practices?
How do crises affect inequalities in sustainable food consumption?
To what extent does the socio-spatial context influence the impacts of crises on sustainable food consumption?
How can we account for times of turbulence and rupture within our research designs methodologically and theoretically?
How do creative methods help us to better understand such ruptures?
Under which conditions can crises act as a catalyst for more sustainable food practices?
What types of political actors can mediate crisis situations effectively to foster practices of sustainable consumption in times of crises?
What kind of politics are needed to enhance sustainable food consumption practices in turbulent times for all parts of society?

Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words and up to 5 keywords to Leonie Tuitjer: tuitjer@uni-bremen.de by Feb 10th 2025.
Please include your name, e-mail and affiliation with the abstract. Please note: We are planning this session for IN-PERSON only.

****

Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be mid-March. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) by Tuesday 11 March via this Google Form.

SHUFood blog

Interested in writing a blog post? These are usually 800-1200 words and written for a general audience in an informal style. Blogs can revisit work you’ve already done (e.g., highlighting a recent output/publication); discuss research or research-related activities (teaching, public engagement, etc.) that you are working on; offer your informed take on contemporary food/drink issues or policy; provide a profile on your research. If you’d like to contribute a piece, please get in touch with Jen (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).

Leave a Comment

Filed under Diet and health, eating behaviour, plant-based foods, research, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, sustainability, Uncategorized, What's Cooking?

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | May 14, 2024 · 8:16 pm

What’s Cooking, May 2024

The highlight of the past two months was surely 24th April, with an all-day bonanza showcasing Sheffield Hallam food-focused students and staff. This included the ‘Food Z’ All Student Conference (featuring speakers Selina Treuherz from ShefFood, Nicola Davies from New Food Innovation, and Jessica Martin from Inspired Global Cuisine), a farewell event for our final year Food and Nutrition/Human Nutrition and Health/Nutrition, Diet and Wellbeing students, and events with professional bodies IFST and Nutrition Society (including a talk from CEO Mark Hollingsworth). We wrapped up the day with an external facing ‘SHUFood Discourse‘ event that put three fabulous speakers into multi-disciplinary conversation about their food research: Graham Finlayson (University of Leeds) on the topic of sugar replacement and appetite, Megan Blake (University of Sheffield) on the ontological status of surplus food, and Benedetta Cappellini (Durham University) on foodcare and mothers’ food practices. Huge thanks to Sheffield Business School (and the ‘responsible consumption and sustainable lives’ theme) for financial support for the event. You can read all about the day in this blog post, written by two of our marvellous ‘Food and Nutrition Student Champions,’ Iman Batrisyia and Macy Wong, both 3rd Year BSc Food and Nutrition students. We’re so proud of, and grateful to our F&N Student Champions, who have been vital partners in all of our events this year!

April also saw the launch of online SHUFood chats, a recurrent series of drop-in meetings aimed at Sheffield-based SHUFood members. Organised and hosted by Jordan Beaumont, the meetings are informal opportunities to come together, share our ongoing research, discuss successes and challenges, troubleshoot and sense check ideas, explore collaboration…and chat about anything to do with research! Details about the next chat on 3rd June can be found below (in the ‘Resources and Calls for Papers’ section). Huge thanks to Jordan for keeping this F&N tradition alive, and for capturing all the amazing updates for this newsletter.

Lastly: Gareth Roberts, one of our intrepid food-focused GTA PhD students here at Hallam, has recently updated on his PhD journey: check out his blog post here. This latest instalment spans the relativity of time, exciting recent highlights in Sheffield’s sustainable food scene from Gareth’s unique vantage point, and the ongoing development of his PhD research including (as is so often the case) embracing the serendipity of finding your research focus.

Below, we have:

updates on recent outputs and activities from our clusters and members;
resources and calls for papers (including a link for the next SHUFood Research Chat, 3 June);
the usual call for contributions and content for the mid-July 2024 edition of What’s Cooking. The deadline for submissions (research news and updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to Google Form by Monday 15 July.

Cheers,
The SHUFood Team!

****************************

Updates

Caroline Westwood was recently invited to speak at the Welsh Annual Conference for the Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations (ASAO) which is the trade body and ‘voice of agricultural show industry’. The attendees were show organisers, show managers, operations managers representing all sizes of shows across Wales. This annual event highlights best practice and addresses challenges within the sector with all things related to agricultural events across Wales. Caroline spoke about her research which focuses on the experience of attendees at these events, the importance and value they place on attendance and how these events have been a vital platform, connecting the non-farming community and general public with food and farming. Research suggests these are the key elements of these events the attendees really value, to understand where food comes from and learn more about the agricultural industry in the UK. Caroline continues to work with various rural events across the UK to conduct research at their events, investigating all aspects of these events.

In April the Food and Nutrition subject group, led by Jenny Paxman, held a fantastic foodie development day – packed with exciting events including the Food and Nutrition All Student Conference, PSRB events, SHUFood Annual Discourse and networking opportunities – bringing together students, academics and industry experts. Check out the event blog post written by our fantastic Food and Nutrition Student Champions, Macy Wong and Iman Batrisyia.

There are lots of exciting collaborative projects on the go, involving colleagues from across and SHU, SHUFood and beyond!

A NIHR-funded project exploring the scope and scale of dark kitchens, led by Jordan Beaumont and Lucie Nield, working with Helen Martin, Simon Bowles, Jo Pearce, Claire Wall, Rachel Rundle and David Harness, is in full swing. Currently interviewing dark kitchen owners and managers (led by Helen and David), which is proving interesting and exciting, with a few trips down a rabbit hole… They have recently completed data collection for an online survey around consumer perceptions of dark kitchens and are now looking to run focus groups to further explore perceptions (led by Jordan and Lucie). Also running an online survey (led by Jo and Rachel) and follow-up interviews (led by Claire and Simon) with planning, environmental health and public health teams within local authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West. Lots of really interesting data being collected!

Caroline Millman is currently deep into a sabbatical and focussing on getting research done, amongst trying (despite being thwarted at every turn) to get the RIPEN-funded project looking at chickpea flour and impact on satiety and glucose response up and running – Anna Sorsby is doing an amazing job at keeping things on track – currently recruiting a casual research associate to support the work. Also working on a lot of cheese with the Natures Richness Group and FermIQ and sauces for Premier, not to mention trying to get things tidied and sorted for the apprenticeship research work.

Helen, along with a colleague at Edge Hill, just resubmitted a paper on food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) to Public Health Nutrition. Plans are also in motion for a project on the back of January’s BTE Red Day – working with Antonio Feteira, Hywel Jones, Dean Maragh, Emily Moorlock and Christine O’Leary – focussing on reducing excess food and electronic waste; they’re looking to organise an event in July to bring together external stakeholders, using their expertise and knowledge on the ground, to help with idea generation in preparation for bid funding.

Jordan, David, Pallavi Singh, Ruth Whiteside, Amanze Ejiogu, Hessam Jahangiri, and Freselam Kassa are working on a project around surplus food/food waste, which also came out of the BTE Red Day in January.

Megan Flint is in the midst of revising a paper for phase two of the PhD, focussing on sensory analysis of meat-based products and plant-based meat alternatives (with Jenny Paxman, Simon Bowles and Tony Lynn), looking to target Food Quality and Preference and hoping to submit soon. Megan is also continuing analysis on phase one of the PhD, which explores consumer perceptions and drivers/barriers of meat and plant-based meat alternatives using different segmentation theories to explore whether different population groups experience different drivers/barriers to engagement with these products. On to the results, which is involving lots of SPSS.

Jenny is enjoying reading Meg’s paper while trying to decide what samples to send for bench-based analysis of plant-based burger products (with Meg, Simon and Tony) and planning next year’s dissertation allocation. Still awaiting outcome of a very exciting Horizon bid with lots of EU collaborators, and chatting with colleagues at Cambridge Street Collective – hoping to don a hard hat to visit the team and explore potential future collaborations. Exploring a ESRC/FOSS event with SHUFood cluster leads (Jen Smith Maguire, Jordan and Pallavi), bringing on board lots of exciting partners… more detail coming soon!

Jo Pearce and Claire Wall have launched into their latest work looking at packed lunches in early year settings. Currently going out to schools to record food consumption, which is proving an intensive data collection period, going into schools every day. The final paper from their prior study, which estimates greenhouse gas emissions from meal provisions in early years settings using the Food Print add on for Nutritics, has been provisionally accepted in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful with a recent NIHR grant application exploring food provision in special schools. Jo is also revisiting a paper with a former colleague at Nottingham, which explore maternal and infant (6-12 months) dietary intake. With a particular focus on iodine, baby-led weaning and consumption during the complementary feeding period, the paper will potentially explore whether mother’s micronutrient intake predicts the infant’s micronutrient intake.

Jordan, Lucie and Elysa Ioannou (along with two masters students and an external collaborator) have had a paper accepted by Frontiers in Public Health on the evaluation of short-term funding in tier two weight management services in Yorkshire and the Humber. Jordan has a further two further manuscripts under review, one on disordered eating and the other around access/use of natural green space and impact on psychological wellbeing in South Asian populations.

A study looking at the effects of combined transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and inhibitory training on eating behaviour and food consumption in those with mild-to-moderate binge eating behaviour, which is a continuation of Jordan’s PhD research and makes good use of internal research funding. The project involves external collaborators with some exciting future plans for this work, including playing with GIANT datasets…

Jordan, Lucie and a range of collaborators are taking a “deep dive” into the lived experience of obesity of minoritised groups. Funded by the Hallam Fund, this project looks to recruit up to 20 individuals with lived experience of obesity who are from ethnic, gender or sexual minority groups to complete a semi-structured interview and focus groups.

Jordan, Lucie and Pallavi are looking to validate the Nutrition Literacy (NLIT) questionnaire in an adolescent population; data collection is almost complete (just waiting for the final participants to complete their second questionnaire), and soon onto analysis.

Jenny and Jordan are working on a plethora of studies around food addiction – currently recruiting participants for a survey exploring perceptions of food addiction (feel free to complete: https://shusls.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eKClPRb4PiJXejc), recruited an intern to conduct a systematic review, and have shortlisted GTA candidates (interviews at the end of the month).

Hayley Grinter, Pallavi and Rachel Marsden are working on a pilot study exploring behaviours around food waste of families with children who are neurodiverse – considering priorities, thoughts and attitudes around food waste. The study will involve interviewing parents or carers from 10 households. Recruitment is starting tomorrow (keep an eye out and please share!) with potential next steps being explored.

PUBLICATIONS
Badjona, A., Bradshaw, R., Millman, C., Howarth, M., & Dubey, B. (2024). Structural, thermal, and physicochemical properties of ultrasound-assisted extraction of faba bean protein isolate (FPI). Journal of Food Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2024.112082

****************************

Resources and Calls for Papers

SHUFood Research Chats are monthly online meetings that offer a space to talk all things research: showcase work, provide updates, discuss plans, explore collaborations… You can bring along updates to share, or just come along to see what everyone else is up to—all are welcome. Please email Dr Jordan Beaumont (j.beaumont@shu.ac.uk) if you need more information. The next SHUFood chat will be Monday, 03 June, 16:00 to 17:00. Open to all Hallam staff and PGR students who are members of the SHUFood clusters. Join the Teams meeting here.

Prof. Dianne Dean, Dr Pallavi Singh and Dr Scott Jones are editing a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management, on ‘Ignored or Invisible: Challenges to recruiting and researching members of marginalised communities’ – if you have any work with marginalised communities, consider submitting! Deadline is 29 July 2024. The journal’s call for papers has more information here: https://www.jmmnews.com/marginalised-communities/

Calls for papers for upcoming special issues in Appetite:

Food insecurity, obesity and the cost-of-living crisis (deadline 30 June 2024)
The effects of climate change on food intake, appetite and dietary choices (deadline 30 August 2024)

More info: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/appetite/about/call-for-papers

****

Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be mid-July. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) by Monday 15 July via this Google Form.

SHUFood blog
Interested in writing a blog post? These are usually 800-1200 words and written for a general audience in an informal style. Blogs can revisit work you’ve already done (e.g., highlighting a recent output/publication); discuss research or research-related activities (teaching, public engagement, etc.) that you are working on; offer your informed take on contemporary food/drink issues or policy; provide a profile on your research. If you’d like to contribute a piece, please get in touch with Jen (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).

Want to stay updated? Follow us on X: @SHUFood. You can also subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each SHUFood blog page.

Leave a Comment

Filed under appetite, eating behaviour, research, surplus waste & excess food in society, sustainability, Uncategorized, What's Cooking?

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | January 12, 2024 · 10:09 am

What’s Cooking, January 2024

Mark your calendars! On 24 April, 2-5pm, we’re looking forward to our SHUFood Annual Discourse event, which will be open to all. More details to come, but expect to hear some fantastic presentations about food-focused research reflecting our three cluster themes. It’ll be a busy day: 24 April is also the date for the annual Food and Nutrition All Student Conference, which is an internal event. With the theme “FoodZ”, the event will explore what food means to GenZ, with featured speaker Zoe Hunter from Sheffield’s Food Works.

Check out our recent blog posts from our December focus on sustainability and food:

‘Sustainable Food and Drink: An immersive tasting and learning event’: On 7 December, SHUFood and the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) teamed up to deliver a research event as part of Sheffield’s Local Food Action Plan. The event offered members of the public a chance to think differently about sustainable food and drink, testing their knowledge with a sustainability quiz while sampling sustainable wine, whiskey and canapés.
Di Dean contribute a blog post, ‘To bin or not to bin, that is the question!’ to help get into the holiday spirit, with a focus on creative ways to use up holiday surplus food and reduce waste and a range of helpful recipe and website suggestions.

We’re excited to see our passion for food further reinforced at Sheffield Hallam with the recent appointment of Tim Smith CBE as the University’s Chair of the Board. Tim is the Chairman of Cranswick plc, a leading supplier in the food sector, and the Co-Chair of the Food and Drink Sector Council. He has been the Chairman of the Government’s Trade and Agriculture Commission, was previously Chief Executive of the UK’s Food Standards Agency, and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to agriculture, food, and drink trade policy in the 2022 New Year Honours.

Below, we have:

updates on recent outputs and activities from across SHUFood;
resources and calls for papers;
the usual call for contributions and content for the March 2024 edition of What’s Cooking. Our newsletter has moved to alternate mid-months: the deadline for submissions (research news and updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to Google Form by Friday 15 March, 9am.

Cheers,
The SHUFood Team!

****************************

Cluster Updates

Congratulations to John Dunning, who has been appointed as Non-Executive Director, Trading and Enterprise Board, Yorkshire Sculpture Park. John has also recently been active in his role as member of the Academic Board at HRC Hospitality and Culinary Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, and as external examiner at César Ritz, in Switzerland, drawing on his expertise with regard to wine research and teaching.

Dr Jordan Beaumont and Lucie Nield, on behalf of the Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research (SHARe) cluster, hosted the regional Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) meeting in December. This half-day conference brought together students, academics, researchers and industry partners to explore appetite and eating behaviour research from across the Yorkshire region. Over 70 delegates attended the hybrid event, with presentations from Dr Jo Pearce and Claire Wall (Sheffield Hallam University), Bixuan Yan (University of Sheffield), Clarissa Dakin (University of Leeds), Dr Alice Kininmouth (University of Leeds), and Dr Sundus Mahdi (University of York).

Updates from Sheffield Hallam’s Food and Nutrition subject group:

Dr Jo Pearce and Claire Wall have recently published a paper exploring the energy and nutrient content of school lunches that are provided for children attending school-based nurseries (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980023002331). Jo and Claire also presented this work at the Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research (SHARe) cluster and Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) co-hosted regional event in December, which explore appetite and eating behaviour research across the Yorkshire region (https://aso.org.uk/event/aso-yorkshire-network-event-appetite-and-eating-behaviours-children-and-adults-insights). The event was organised by Lucie Nield and Dr Jordan Beaumont in collaboration with the ASO regional team.

Dr Rachel Rundle has just submitted a manuscript with Anna Hawkins (Department of the Natural and Built Environment) titled: “School Food Hero and the Battle of the Food Foe: a story of public health policy, power imbalance and potential”. We ask a lot of school food with very little input and funding, expecting to battle evils of the food industry and competing choice. The paper shows that the School Food Hero is one in a team of Avengers fighting the battle!

Lucie Nield presented a workshop around how to implement research using other people (with international perspective) at the Evidence-Based Healthcare conference in Sicily in October.

Dr Caroline Millman and Anna Sorsby have recently been awarded funding from the RIPEN Hub (https://www.ripenhub.co.uk/) to conduct sensory work on products containing chickpeas, which will include measuring satiety and energy intake. Caroline is also doing some very exciting work with vegan cheese – currently looking to at scaling up recipes and processing changes.

Meg Flint is powering through a mountain of data on plant-based meat alternatives. Meg, along with her supervisory team (Jenny Paxman, Dr Simon Bowles and Dr Tony Lynn) are working on a publication around the sensory attributes of plant-based meat alternatives, which includes some exciting lab analysis on nutrient composition to help better compare meat-based and plant-based products.

Lots of successful funding bids, including two recent internal small grants to explore packed lunches in early years settings (Dr Jo Pearce and Claire Wall) and preliminary work on the perceptions of food addiction (Dr Jordan Beaumont and Jenny Paxman). Even more bid application and successes to share soon, in addition to exciting outputs on perceptions of body morphology, adolescent food choice, food insecurity and childhood obesity, behavioural weight management, school food, food safety, food addiction, nutrition and self-regulation of eating, natural green space and psychological wellbeing, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, and so much more…

Recent publications:

Badjona, A., Bradshaw, R., Millman, C., Howarth, M. & Dubey, B. (2023). Faba Beans Protein as an Unconventional Protein Source for the Food Industry: Processing Influence on Nutritional, Techno-Functionality, and Bioactivity, Food Reviews International. https://doi.org/10.1080/87559129.2023.2245036

Wall, C., & Pearce, J. (2023). Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending school-based nurseries: A cross-sectional study. Public Health Nutrition, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980023002331

****************************

Resources and Calls for Papers

16th Annual Conference of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE). Lausanne, Switzerland (July 1-5, 2024). Abstract Submission Deadline: January 31, 2024
Abstracts must be 500–1,200 words long. AAWE membership is required for abstract submissions. Information: www.wine-economics.org

****

Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

SHUFood blog

Want to stay updated? Follow us on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter): @SHUFood. You can also subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each SHUFood blog page.

Leave a Comment

Filed under appetite, CHEFS, Diet and health, eating behaviour, food practices, hospitality, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, sustainability, SWEFS Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society, What's Cooking?

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | December 21, 2023 · 1:51 pm

Sustainable food and drink: an immersive tasting and learning event

On December 7^th, SHUFood and NCEFE (the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering) joined forces to host ‘Sustainable Food and Drink: An Immersive Tasting and Learning Event.’ The event welcomed 40 guests to a three-hour event that included a sustainable food quiz, canapés made from surplus food, and a tutored tasting featuring sustainable wine and whiskey. Aimed at the general public, the activities were designed to help people think differently about sustainable food and drink, and to showcase our diverse SHUFood food-focused research at Sheffield Hallam University.

The event was part of our commitment to ShefFood’s Local Food Action Plan for Sheffield, building an ‘inclusive food movement’ through public-facing events on the theme of healthy and sustainable food.

We started the evening capturing people’s responses to the prompt ‘what does sustainable food and drink mean to you?’ Answers included being mindful; seasonal; local (and local bees!); egalitarian; creative with fewer ingredients; good food for a good future; smart packaging; and being part of my food system. The full set of responses is captured in this padlet, allowing others to share their comments and likes to continue the conversation; you can also take a video tour of the responses.

A few highlights of the evening:

The drinks! Guests were welcomed with mulled, spiced apple juice and two kombuchas (alongside activities highlighting SHUFood research and the brilliant work of Sheffield Hallam’s Design Futures Packaging to make food packaging more sustainable). Accompanying activities in the fantastic Hallam test kitchen, guests then sampled wines carefully selected by our event beverage guru, John Dunning, for their sustainability credentials. This included Yorkshire wines from Laurel Vines Vineyard (kindly donated by Ian Sargent, chairman of WineGB Midlands and North). The final phase of the event featured a tutored tasting of two sustainable wines, supplied by local wine merchant Starmore Boss, and a whiskey from Derbyshire’s White Peak Distillery. Tastings were enhanced by fascinating stories of provenance, production process and passion from Jeff Boss of Starmore Boss, and White Peak Distillery Manager Dave Symes.

Photos: SHUFoodie Ewen Crilley pouring in the test kitchen; Dave Symes of White Peak Distillery and John Dunning (SHUFoodie extraordinaire and mastermind of the event’s drinks component); Jeff Boss of Starmore Boss; an expectant audience as the tasting got underway.

The food! Oh, the amazing food! Caroline Millman (NCEFE ‘Healthier Lives’ theme lead) set the vision for the event’s food component, with a focus on using surplus food, scrupulously saved from previous weeks’ teaching and sourced from Food Works Sheffield. Everyone was blown away by the results of SHU’s culinary wizards Jason Tompkin and Amy Downing, who took Caroline’s brief and turned it into an array of creative, delicious dishes. Pure genius. Judging by the event’s final feedback board (see below), the sprout station (soup, patties, and slaw!), onion peel powder and banana skin vegan bacon made a lasting impression. Amplifying the impact of the food was the pièce de résistance: a truly challenging sustainability food quiz.

Photos: Amy Downing, Jason Tompkin and crates of ingredients from Food Works; SHU ‘food and nutrition’ student champion Macy Wong and Caroline Millman (mastermind of the event’s food component) deliver the sustainability quiz answers (and the facts behind them); upcycled bananas were transformed into tasty chips and vegan bacon; the full tasting menu; the test kitchen full of happy guests.

We finished the evening with a pledge wall, the brainchild of SHUFoodie Pallavi Singh (see photo below). There were fantastic responses, including pledges to be thoughtful, creative and waste less; to ask more questions; to try more plant based foods; to cook as a house; to read Sheffield’s Local Food Action Plan…and our sprout station, onion powder, and sustainable wine and whiskey clearly made a big impression! The full set of responses is captured in this padlet, allowing others to share their comments and likes to continue the conversation; you can also take a video tour of the responses.

All in all, it was a superb event that gave everyone food for thought. A huge thank you to our keen participant guests, our fabulous ‘Food and Nutrition student champions’ Jed Gauder, Macy Wong, Iman Batrisyia, and Kayleigh Cope, and to everyone who supported the event with their energy, time, creativity, donations, and stories.

Wishing you a restorative holiday, and a tasty and sustainable new year!

Leave a Comment

Filed under SHUFood, sustainability, Uncategorized

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | December 7, 2023 · 1:47 pm

Picturing Good Food: Our Winners!

Back in October, SHUFood delivered a public engagement research event as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science: Picturing Good Food. The event explored the ways in which social science contributes to the development of healthier, more sustainable, and more enjoyable food practices. It was also a brilliant excuse to bring together our three research clusters, CHEFS, SWEFS and SHARe to increase awareness of our food-related research.

The event took place in Sheffield’s Winter Gardens, and featured engaging activities for all ages. We were especially delighted to have had so many younger children as eager participants, who enjoyed the activities while learning more about the potential for food to have a positive impact for health and the environment. The activities delved into attitudes towards eating, plant-based foods, and food waste, which have become increasingly popular topics in the last few years.

Children (and not a few adults!!) took part in a series of hands-on activities, including the chance to draw their vision of good food. Whilst we saw outstanding artistic expression from all who participated, we nevertheless set ourselves the difficult task of identifying winners.

Drum roll please…

In the infant category (5-7 years), we extend our congratulations to two winners: Reggie (aged 7) and Diala (aged 8). Both your talents have shown through, and we are extremely impressed by your amazing capabilities on attitudes to eating, plant-based foods, and food waste.

From our junior category (7-11 years), a big congratulations to Annika (aged 10) and Millie (aged 10). Your food drawings are spectacular, and your creativity is amazing!

Congratulations once again on your inspiring drawings on perceptions of food and drink.

We’ve messaged winners (or rather, their adult agents!) on Twitter, but haven’t yet heard back from a few. Please get in touch (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) to claim your prize.

And a big thank you from the SHUFood team to all of the brilliant Sheffield Hallam University Food and Nutrition Student Champions who helped with the event, and Kayleigh Cope for drafting this blog!

Leave a Comment

Filed under appetite, CHEFS, Diet and health, eating behaviour, food practices, food waste, research, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, sustainability, SWEFS Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society, Uncategorized

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | December 1, 2023 · 12:23 pm

To bin or not to bin, that is the question!

Professor Dianne Dean is Professor of Consumption Values and Practices, in Sheffield Business School. Di and colleague Dr Pallavi Singh, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, lead the SHUFood SWEFS (Surplus, Waste and Excess Food in Society) cluster. Below, Di helps to get into the holiday spirit with some tips on reducing food waste.

Photo by Libby Penner on Unsplash

As we are approach holiday and celebratory events (at whatever time of year!), we encounter the perennial problem on what to do with what’s left of the food we have bought (just in case we need…more cheese, fruit, cream, drinks, sausage meat, etc., etc.). For example, many of us face the question, post-Christmas, of what to do with leftovers once we’ve had the ‘grand reveal’ (as they say in the cookery magazines!) of the succulent turkey and all the trimmings.

Rather than just ignore what is in the fridge and pretending it isn’t there (or waiting until it grows teeth and tries to jump out and get you!), we can look to try to save some of the food from going to landfill, biowaste dumps or wherever your local council deals with food waste. Plus, it saves money!!

Let’s save those councils some work (and again money) by thinking creatively about how we can use up the stuff in the fridge. Turkey curry is often the go-to recipe, but there are many other exciting and tasty options. For some, it might be preferable to have something quick to prepare, after the exhausting work that goes into making Christmas such a memorable event (well, that’s the plan). For others, they might want to use up leftovers in a more creative way, honing their skills as they dream of appearing on MasterChef.

Below are a few recipes that offer ideas for using up surplus food, reducing food waste, and helping the planet—and saving money into the bargain.

Some may want warming comfort food during the frequently miserable cold January:

Christmas Dinner Mac & Cheese (the recipe can use vegetarian quorn or turkey meat)
Christmas Leftover Toastie

Others may be looking for healthier options to help with new year’s resolutions:

There are also a number of websites that provide tasty leftover recipe ideas, including:

Respect Food is an excellent website that categorises ingredients alphabetically so you can easily find a recipe for almost any type of leftover food.
Good Food Christmas Leftover recipes has a collection of recipes designed to use up food from the Christmas period, from this well-known cookery magazine.
Great British Chefs: the website provides an innovative approach to using up surplus food, including some really nice recipes from some of the top chefs in the country.

I hope these recipes provide some inspiration for using up surplus food and reducing waste. More generally, Pallavi and I are very keen to promote the reduction of food waste in households. We have recently finished a project with Sheffield City Council as they trialled a new household food waste collection service. After interviewing a number of people in the pilot areas, we found that there was pride in using the new bin correctly and placing it out for collection. We also found that many people were actively seeking to reduce waste and were disappointed when the trial period was completed. We hope the research we conducted will help SCC provide a clean and efficient system for collecting food waste, and maximise its value.

Finally, we would like to wish you a very merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Enjoy your cooking!

Leave a Comment

Filed under food practices, food waste, sustainability, SWEFS Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | November 14, 2023 · 7:52 pm

What’s Cooking, November 2023

Check out our recent blog posts about two events we ran in October:

‘Picturing Good Food’ ESRC Festival of Social Science event: a merry band of SHUFood-ies and Food and Nutrition Student Champions (all from Sheffield Business School) delivered an event in for the 2023 ESRC Festival of Social Science, in Sheffield’s Winter Garden. Perfectly timed to coincide with Sheffield schools’ half-term holiday, the event offered four hands-on activities for kids (and parents!) of all ages, inspired by the range of food-related research we do across our three food research clusters around attitudes to eating, plant-based foods, and food waste.
CHEFS/SWEFS/SHARe PGR and ECR Food Research Seminar: three research presentations with some lively Q&A, featuring CHEFS visiting PhD student Andrey Sgorla, SWEFS GTA PhD student Ufuoma Arangebi, and SHARe ECR lecturer Jordan Beaumont. Full titles and abstracts on the blog page (link above).

The Festival of Social Science event also marked the debut of our new banners, reflecting all three of our clusters.

Below, we have:

updates on recent outputs and activities from across the three clusters;
resources and calls for papers;
the usual call for contributions and content for the January 2024 edition of What’s Cooking. Our newsletter has moved to alternate mid-months: the deadline for submissions (research news and updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to Google Form by Friday 12 January.

Cheers,
The SHUFood Team!

****************************

Cluster Updates

SHUFood and the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) are teaming up to deliver a research event as part of Sheffield’s Local Food Action Plan on 7 December. ‘Sustainable Food and Drink: An immersive tasting and learning event’ is aimed at the general public, and designed to help people think differently about sustainable food and drink. Participants will hear about some of the many ways in which Sheffield Hallam research is addressing sustainability in the food and drink sector; test their knowledge with a sustainability quiz while sampling sustainable wine and canapés; and enjoy a mini tutored tasting featuring sustainable wine and whiskey. Places are limited (and restricted to those over 18 years of age) and registration is required by 30 November. Information and registration here.

Congratulations to Caroline Millman for funding success: Caroline is PI on the successful ‘Structural design of more satiating foods’ bid to the BBSRC RIPEN Hub scheme.

Congratulations on recent publications and conference activities (SHUFoodies: Jordan Beaumont, Lucie Nield):

Beaumont, J.D., Dalton, M., Davis, D., Finlayson, G., Nowicky, A., Russell, M., & Barwood, M. (2023). No effect of prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on food craving, food reward and subjective appetite in females displaying mild-to-moderate binge-type behaviour. Appetite, 189. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106997

Beaumont, J.D., Goodwin, E., Smith, N., Dalton, M., Davis, D., & Barwood, M.J. (2023). Understanding the Perceptions of Brain Stimulation as a Tool for Weight Management. Appetite, 189, 106968. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106968 (conference abstract)

Beaumont, J.D., Wyld, R., Reimann, T., & O’Hara, B. (2023). Exploring the perceptions of health, weight and obesity. Presented at: UK Congress on Obesity 2023, Queens University, Belfast.

Beaumont, J.D., Ioannou, E., Corrigan, N., & Nield, L. (2023). An evaluation of tier 2 weight management services in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Presented at: 30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO), Dublin, 2023

****************************

Resources and Calls for Papers

Upcoming ShefFood working group meetings and working group minutes are available on the ShefFood events page):

Growing & Composting (upcoming meeting: 22 Nov)
Food Ladders
Good Food Movement (upcoming meeting: 30 Nov)
Good Food Economy & Procurement

Regional and Local Identities in Drinking Cultures, 8 December 2023, University of Leicester. The Drinking Studies Network (DSN) Identities and Diversity Cluster, and the University of Leicester’s Centre for Regional and Local History, are pleased to share the exciting programme for our workshop on 8 December 2023. All are welcome! Attendance at the workshop is free, but spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To register your attendance, please email Deborah Toner (dt151@le.ac.uk), including details of any dietary and accessibility requirements you have, by Friday 24 November. The programme has four sessions featuring research presentations on: ‘Drinking Places and Identity in the British City,’ ‘Alcohol Consumption and Group Identities,’ ‘Irish Identities and Iconography’ and ‘Regional Dynamics of Mexican Drinks.’

****

Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be mid-January 2024. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) by Friday 12 January via this Google Form.

SHUFood blog

Want to stay updated? Follow us on X (OK fine, we’ll call it that): @SHUFood. You can also subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each SHUFood blog page.

Leave a Comment

Filed under CHEFS, research, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, sustainability, SWEFS Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society, Uncategorized, What's Cooking?

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | June 29, 2023 · 9:40 pm

What’s Cooking, July 2023

What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?

We’ve had two fantastic ‘paired papers’ sessions recently, organised by sister foodie clusters:

In May, SWEFS (Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society) hosted a session on ‘Food Waste and Working with Vulnerable Participants’ with presentations from Professor Dorothy Yen (Brunel University), and from Dr Chrysostomos Apostolidis (Durham University) and Dr David M. Brown (Heriot-Watt University). Recording here
In June, SHARe (Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research) hosted a session on ‘Exploring human appetite and eating behaviour.’ The session, Chaired by Anna Sorsby, featured work presented by Dr Miriam Clegg (University of Reading) and Dr Jordan Beaumont (Sheffield Hallam University). Recording here A more detailed write-up is below!

Full details on the ‘past talks’ page. That wraps up our 22/23 program of talks—thanks to all for organising, presenting, attending, and participating!

Watch this space for what’s to come in 23/24, including a CHEFS-NCEFE collab on sustainable food. This is part of our commitment to support ShefFood’s ‘Local Food Action Plan’, and its aim to ‘connect and enhance communication between food organisations working on different parts of the Sheffield food system.’

Below, we have:

updates on recent activities;
summary of the recent SHARe paired papers session;
resources: Sheffield Food Partnership’s Local Food Action Plan, recently launched;
the usual call for contributions and content for the September 2023 edition of What’s Cooking; deadline for submissions (research news and updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to smith1@shu.ac.uk by 30 August.

Cheers,
Jen

****************************

Recent CHEFS Activities

Huge congratulations to Pallavi Singh and Dianne Dean (co-leads of the SWEFS cluster) and Scott Jones for recognition of their work with Sheffield City Council, around the council’s introduction of a food waste trial scheme. Pallavi, Di, and Scott are carrying out research to better understand the process of household food disposal across selected areas of Sheffield. The project was a shortlisted nomination for the 2023 PRME Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in SDG Integration!

On 8 June, Sheffield Business School hosted its annual PGR/ECR conference, with the theme ‘Developing Our Research Culture.’ The SWEFS (Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society) research culture was well represented by Nikita Marie Bridgeman, who won best PGR paper for her presentation, “Intergeneration Attitudes Towards Food Waste: A Socioeconomic Status Perspective.” Well done!

More accolades from the SBS PGR/ECR conference: The SHARe (Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research) research cluster was thrilled to have outstanding representation from one of our ECR colleagues, Dr Jordan Beaumont, and GTA, Megan Flint. Meg’s e-poster was entitled “The acceptability, sensory attributes, and emotional response to plant-based meat alternatives under open and closed label conditions.” Jordan’s work, on “An evaluation of tier two weight management services in the Yorkshire and Humber Region” went on to win the Best ECR Paper Prize! We’re thrilled for both of these SHARe colleagues! It’s brilliant to see how well received both presentations were.

Dr Jordan Beaumont presented a poster on the same work at the 30^th European Congress on Obesity (ECO), which was held in Dublin in May. You can view Jordan’s poster, here.

GTA Megan Flint with colleagues Dr Simon Bowles, Dr Tony Lynn and Jenny Paxman have had their work on The acceptability and sensory attributes of plant-based burger products under open and closed label conditions accepted for presentation at the forthcoming Nutrition Society Summer Conference: Nutrition at key stages of the lifecycle – Liverpool 2023. This work was undertaken with Fiona Leroy, a recent intern from Institute Agro Dijon. This work has been chosen by the Nutrition Society Theme Lead for Food Systems as their highlight of the conference and will therefore be presented in the conference opening session, after invited plenary lecture one. We are so proud that this work has been recognised in this way. It’s a great opportunity to showcase what the Food and Nutrition team are currently engaged in research-wise. This is a further feather in Meg’s cap after last year’s postgraduate research win at the same conference, collaboratively hosted by F&N at Sheffield Hallam, University of Sheffield and Sheffield City Council, here at SHU last year. In further great news, recent work by F&N colleagues Claire Wall and Dr Jo Pearce has also been accepted to be presented at the same conference. Claire and Jo will be presenting on “Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending early years settings within primary schools: A cross-sectional study”, and plan on submitting the full-text article to Public Health Nutrition shortly.

Jo Pearce and Claire Wall have had their paper “School lunch portion sizes provided for children attending early years settings within primary schools: a cross‐sectional study” published online in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. Claire and Jo will also be presenting this work at the Nutrition Society conference next month.

Jordan Beaumont, Claire Wall, Lucie Nield, Jo Pearce, Simon Bowles and Rachel Rundle are undertaking work with the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Complications of Excess Weight (CEW) clinic, with a project exploring food insecurity and childhood obesity. Jordan and Lucie are also nearing the end of their tier 2 weight management service evaluation project, with interviews conducted and transcribed, and project RAs doing the first round of framework analysis. They are looking to hold a dissemination event in November with participants to feedback findings and get input on the recommendations regarding findings and best practice.

****************************

On 13 June, SHARe hosted a CHEFS online talks session with paired papers focussing on research relating to appetite regulation and modulation. The session, chaired by Anna Sorsby, featured work presented by Dr Miriam Clegg (University of Reading) and Dr Jordan Beaumont (Sheffield Hallam University). Recording here.

Dr Miriam Clegg is Associate Professor and Deputy Director (Institute of Food, Nutrition & Health), School Director of Postdoctoral Researchers, and Programme Director BSc Nutrition at University of Reading. Miriam is a Registered Nutritionist with a research interest in appetite, incorporating markers of food intake, eating behaviours and nutritional status including gastrointestinal transit, energy expenditure and hormones related to appetite. Miriam is PI on the BBSRC funded Food4Years Ageing Network. Miriam is Assistant Editor for 3 esteemed nutrition journals (BJN, J Hum Nutr and Dietetics and J Nutr Science). Miriam’s presentation was entitled: Dietary strategies for improving healthy life expectancy – the role of appetite research.

Abstract: Increased feelings of hunger and lack of satiety is linked to reduced adherence to weight loss interventions and difficulties in weight loss maintenance. With 63.8% of the population overweight or obese in England, appetite research has been suggested as a useful tool to reduce calorie intake. On the opposite side of the appetite narrative, a large section of the population are at risk of malnutrition, with or without obesity. UK life expectancy has increased through the 20th and 21st Centuries, yet there is little evidence that these gains in life expectancy are always translated to increased years living in good health for older adults, when compared to previous generations. A nutritious diet is recognised as essential for healthy aging, well-being, reducing the risk of chronic diseases and the rate of functional decline, and changes to lifestyle (i.e. diet, nutrition and physical activity) can maintain or improve body composition, cognitive and mental health, immune function and vascular health in older adults. Research often cites that 1/10 adults aged 65+ is malnourished or at risk of malnutrition based on 2015 statistics, however recent research from Age UK highlights that this may be even higher since the pandemic (2). Contrary to common belief, nutritional needs only decrease marginally with age, and are sometimes higher than the needs of younger individuals. Protein is a good example. The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) and the PROT-AGE Study Group have advised that a healthy older adult’s recommended daily protein intake should be increased to 1-1.2g/kg to maintain functionality, independence and fight infection. Protein is also known to be the most satiating macronutrient, and strategies to improve protein intake in older adults need to ascertain if increases in protein intake are like to impact overall food intake. Recent research from our group has used strategies to increase protein intake in older adults, focusing on foods that are liked and consumed by older adults (3). In the future, designing and producing a food environment that meets the diverse needs of older adults should work with them in the creation of bespoke, equitable interventions (4).

Yakubu AH, Platts K, Sorsby A et al. (2023) J Funct Foods 102, 105471
Age UK (2012) Understanding Society: COVID-19 Study
Smith R., Clegg M & Methven L. (2022) Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2022.2137777
Clegg M, Methven L, Lanham-New S et al . (2023) Nutr Bull. 48, 124-133

Dr Jordan Beaumont is a Registered Nutritionist and Lecturer within the Food and Nutrition group at Sheffield Hallam University. Jordan is Course Leader for the MSc Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development and co-lead of the Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch (SHARe) cluster. Jordan’s research focusses on obesity and weight management, exploring novel interventions for weight management, the perceptions of health and obesity, and eating behaviours and appetite control. Jordan’s presentation was on Modulating eating behaviour with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Abstract: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation involving the application of a constant and weak electrical current to the brain, is a popular technique for changing cortical activity and downstream behaviour (1). There has been particular interest in the use of this technique in weight management, with an emphasis on changing eating behaviour. However, despite promising early findings, studies have failed to identify a consistent effect of tDCS across eating-related measures (2, 3). Our research explores the application of tDCS, and through this work we have established stimulation parameters that appear to produce a consistent change in eating behaviour, and identified populations who may benefit from this technique (4, 5). This paired papers talk will overview our recent studies applying tDCS to change eating-related measures across different population, and will consider the therapeutic use of this technique in weight management.

1. Filmer et al. (2014) Trends Neurosci; 37, 742-753, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2014.08.003

2. Fregni et al. (2008) Appetite; 51 (1), 34-41, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2007.09.016

3. Beaumont et al. (2021) Appetite; 157, 105004, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.105004

4. Beaumont et al. (2022) Obesity Reviews; 23 (2), e13364, https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13364

5. Beaumont et al. (2022) Psychosomatic Medicine; 84 (6), 646-657, http://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0000000000001074

****************************

Resources

ShefFood, Sheffield’s Food Partnership, launched its Local Food Action Plan (LFAP) in June. The LFAP is now live on the ShefFood website along with a brand new page for all our key strategic and research documents. You can also read some of the responses to the LFAP from the launch here. The next step for ShefFood is the Sustainable Food Places Silver Award bid which will be submitted in July. Want to get involved? Check out our latest events or email info@sheffood.org.uk

****

Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be September 2023. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by 30 August.

CHEFS blog

Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.

Leave a Comment

Filed under appetite, food waste, research, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, surplus waste & excess food in society, sustainability, SWEFS Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society, What's Cooking?

by Jennifer Smith Maguire | May 1, 2023 · 6:00 am

What’s Cooking, May 2023

This spring has witnessed a flurry of activity for all three of our clusters: a great reminder of the diversity of food-related research (and our love of acronyms) here at Sheffield Hallam University:

SWEFS (Surplus, Waste and Excess Food in Society) hosted a Food Waste research networking event;
SHARe (Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research) hosted a Complete and Finish event to support appetite-related research ideas;
CHEFS (Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society…for all things socio-cultural related to food and drink) hosted The English and Welsh Wine Symposium and a paired papers session on ‘Food, Wine and Discourse’ (abstracts and recording on the ‘past talks’ page).

We’re also excited to expand the CHEFS ‘paired papers’ format with two upcoming events organised by SWEFS and SHARe:

11 May, 3-4.30 on Zoom: SWEFS paired papers session on ‘Food Waste and Working with Vulnerable Participants’ (titles, abstracts on the ‘research talks’ page)
13 June, 3-4.30 on Zoom: SHARe paired papers session on ‘Exploring Human Appetite and Eating Behaviour’ (titles, abstracts on the ‘research talks’ page)

Below, we have:

updates on recent activities (including write-ups of the various CHEFS, SWEFS and SHARe events);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (Sheffield Food Partnership (ShefFood) are hosting the launch of the Local Food Action Plan for Sheffield on Thursday 15 June).
the usual call for contributions and content for the July 2023 edition of What’s Cooking.

Cheers,
Jen

****************************

Recent CHEFS Activities

In March, Jenny Paxman and Dr Jordan Beaumont organised and led a Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch (SHARe) sub-cluster ‘Complete and Finish’ event. Attendees included established and new SHARe members, both staff and students, who have a keen interest in eating behaviours, the hedonics of food and feeding, obesity and weight management or sensory analysis. The purpose of the event was to Shape, Sharpen and SHARe appetite-related research ideas. Getting to know others who are active in our field is a brilliant way to progress any project. For SHARe, the event helped to identify the overarching state of current projects, and to reflect on members orientations as individuals and as researchers. A full write-up of the event, including the Shape, Sharpen and SHARe diagnostic, is available here.

Also in March: CHEFS hosted the English and Welsh Wine Symposium. Co-organisers Professor Jennifer Smith Maguire and Dr John Dunning welcomed over 50 academics and industry professionals, including wine makers, winery owners, wine retailers and wine writers, and hospitality and retail professionals. The half day event explored the current context and future directions of the English and Welsh wine industry. There were two keynote presentations from Masters of Wine: Mr Simon Thorpe, CEO of WineGB, ‘WineGB and its role supporting an emerging wine region;’ Professor Steve Charters, Burgundy School of Wine and Spirits Business, ‘PDOs and Terroir: The Complexities of Wine and Place.‘ In addition, the afternoon included a tutored tasting of English and Welsh wines, a panel discussion featuring a cross-section of industry perspectives, and a networking reception featuring English sparkling wines, with all wines generously selected and donated by WineGB. A full write-up of the event, with photos and links to the keynote presentations, is available here.

In April, the SWEFS (Surplus, Waste and Excess Food in Society) Research Sub-Cluster, co-led by Dr Pallavi Singh and Prof Dianne Dean, organised their introductory workshop and networking event. The workshop brought together 34 colleagues from BTE and National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) together to discuss current research on Food Waste and develop interdisciplinary collaborations for impact-oriented research on the Global Issue of Food Waste in the Society. Prof Dianne Dean, Dr Pallavi Singh, and Dr Scott Jones shared their work with Sheffield City Council on household food waste collection service, Prof Martin Howarth discussed the current work done by NCEFE, and SWEFS current Sheffield Business School PhD students, Nikita Marie Bridgeman and Ufuoma Arangebi, presented their respective projects. To know more about SWEFS’s work and join the TEAMS channel, please contact Dr Pallavi Singh on p.singh@shu.ac.uk. A write-up of the event, with photos from presentations, is available here.

Check out Gareth Robert’s latest instalment of his food PhD blog, which includes a tour of recent food sustainability events, and an emerging ‘rich picture’ of Gareth’s PhD on Yorkshire FFE: Food & Farming Events.

****************************

Resources/call for papers/conference announcements

Local Food Action Plan Launch
Date and time: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 18:00 – 20:30 BST
Location: Victoria Hall Norfolk Street Sheffield City Centre S1 2JB
The Sheffield Food Partnership (ShefFood) are hosting the launch of the Local Food Action Plan for Sheffield on Thursday 15 June. ShefFood have co-created the action plan with almost 100 organisations in the city and in collaboration with FixOurFood through a series of 12 workshops to write and co-develop the action plan, which addresses 5 key pillars of a good local food system: food provision, food production, the food economy, health and wellbeing, and the good food movement. The action plan sets out specific commitments to action from diverse organisations across the city; over the next 7 years, these actions will take Sheffield’s food system on a journey to becoming fairer and more sustainable for people and planet. The launch event is free to attend (the community meal is on a pay-as-you-feel basis) and everyone is welcome, but spaces are limited so please do register for your free ticket via Eventbrite. For questions, please get in touch at info@sheffood.org.uk

****

Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be July 2023. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by 29 June.

CHEFS blog

Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.

Leave a Comment

Filed under appetite, CHEFS, eating behaviour, food practices, food waste, research, SHARe Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, sustainability, SWEFS Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society, What's Cooking?, wine

Category Archives: sustainability

What’s Cooking, May 2024

Sustainable food and drink: an immersive tasting and learning event

To bin or not to bin, that is the question!

Recent Posts

Interested in doing a SHUFood PhD?

Subscribe to Blog via Email