Citation: Rao, M. (2025) Traditional knowledge at the centre of a circular bioeconomy. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01205-zHeader image credit: UNDP The circular bioeconomy is often presented as a frontier of cutting-edge innovation, where science, technology, and sustainability converge to create new possibilities. However, during my PhD research on food waste valorisation, I started to notice something less […]
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Written for the Good Food Movement as part of my monthly column ‘The Plate and the Planet’. Published in July 2025. Header image credit: Prabhakaran S for Good Food Movement. What makes Darjeeling tea truly Darjeeling? How much of its fiery strength does the Guntur Sannam chilli owe to the growers who know just when to […]
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Published in Tijdschrift voor Levensmiddelenrecht in July 2025. The full text can be found here. If you are interested in the article but do not have institutional access, please reach out to me via the contact page. Image credit: Maria Verkhoturtseva. Title Artisanal fermentation as a regulatory grey area in EU food law Abstract Artisanal […]
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Published open access in The Journal of Climate Change and Health in July 2025. I contributed to this multi-disciplinary collaborative study by assisting with research design and qualitative data analysis. Image credit: ‘Flooded Home V’ by Nina Jordan via The Met. View full text here. Title Preemptive hospital evacuation during the 2021 European floods: A […]
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In June 2025, I was invited to teach at the annual summer school organised by Norway’s National Research School in Nutrition (NutriNOR) that took place in Bergen. This year’s overarching theme was ‘food processing’ and the three-day summer school included lectures and workshops on the topic by experts from a variety of fields such as […]
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Written for the Good Food Movement as part of my monthly column ‘The Plate and the Planet’. Published in June 2025. Header image credit: Kaushani Mufti for the Good Food Movement. Across India, it is not uncommon to find people relying on nature and its signs to determine the course of their own actions, from […]
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In May 2025, Pint of Science—the international science communication festival—was held in the city of Venlo for the very first time. I had the pleasure of presenting my research on food waste to a full house at a local pub, where attendees gathered over a pint to learn about the latest work emerging from Maastricht […]
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With rising concerns around food safety, nutrition, food security, and environmental impact, legal frameworks are increasingly critical in shaping healthier food systems. The third Food Law Academic Network (FLAN) Annual Conference explored the evolving role of food law in promoting public health, environmental sustainability, and social equity and fostered discussions on how law can address […]
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Written for the Good Food Movement as part of my monthly column ‘The Plate and the Planet’. Published in May 2025. Header image credit: Good Food Movement. Can a rapidly expanding industry feed a nation without compromising its ecosystems or its people’s health? Aquaculture—which involves farming fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants—has become central to this […]
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Written for the Good Food Movement as part of my monthly column ‘The Plate and the Planet’. Published in April 2025. Header image credit: Good Food Movement. India – one of the world’s largest food producers – loses an estimated 40 percent of its produce annually. This colossal waste not only squanders natural, technological, and human resources, […]
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Madhura Rao 