The Food Citizens? team had the pleasure to host a one-day seminar with two Polish rural sociologists: Wojciech Goszczyński (Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń) and Ruta Śpiewak (Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw).
The seminar was an intensive exchange about each other’s research projects through rich and stimulating discussions. After the presentation by the three ERC PhDs on their current state of thesis development, Federico De Musso shared a work-in-progress visualization of the project’s digital platform, which will be launched at the project conference on February 4th, 2022. 
Dr. Goszczyński and Dr. Śpiewak presented their current research-in-progress with the titles: “Relational rural: performing rurality through alternative food practices” and “Commons or Commodity: Alternative Food Networks in Poland?”, respectively.
 The discussion that followed was particularly beneficial for Ola Gracjasz, our Polish PhD candidate (since both scholars have been working on food procurement in Poland over several years), but everyone shared insightful comparative comments and questions, for example over the role of cooperatives in the ‘alternative’ food scene in Europe, and about the commodification of the ‘experience’ of the rural in heritage foods venues and events.
Both the Food Citizens? team and our guests were happy to use the opportunity to meet in real life and brainstorm on further cooperation.