From the 10th to the 12th of November 2017, over 100 people from more than 40 cities came together in Essen, Germany to exchange ideas and experiences about food policy councils (FPCs, in German: Ernährungsräte). This was the first networking congress of recently created food policy councils and initiatives planning to do so in the near future in German-speaking countries and regions (Austria, Germany, South Tirol and Switzerland).

FPCs bring together diverse actors within the food system; they are often initiated by civil society and they try to shape food policies at different levels. As FPCs have been in existence in other countries for several decades, the congress organizers invited international guests from the United States, Canada, Brazil and the United Kingdom to learn from their experiences. In Germany, FPCs are a fairly new phenomenon with the first ones founded in Cologne and Berlin in 2016, followed by Frankfurt, Dresden and Oldenburg in 2017.

Being part of this rapid expansion as an accompanying researcher is quite an exciting journey. In my PhD, I´m investigating the potential of food policy councils to serve as levers for sustainability transformation. As part of my empirical research on FPCs in Germany, I have been accompanying the emergence of a FPC in the city of Oldenburg in Lower Saxony since April 2016. Just a few weeks ago, after one and a half years of preparation, the council “Ernährungsrat Oldenburg” was officially founded (21st of October). Three people from Oldenburg also joined the networking congress in Essen. Amongst them, Nina Gmeiner, member of the coordinating group of the council, very much appreciated the open atmosphere: “One thing was quite obvious: All of us have a common goal and want to support each other so that the experiment of FPCs in Germany will be successful”.

The network congress took place in the “Alte Lohnhalle”, the former wages hall of the colliery “Bonifacius”, which is part of the Industrial Heritage Trail in the Ruhr area. With its special flair, this historical building provided ample space for the large number of participants and enough rooms and corners for the numerous interactive sessions taking place over the weekend.