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LOST IN TRANSLATION: LIFE OF A JAPANESE GIRL IN ITALY Not long after I arrived in Bra, my landlady insisted, ‘You have to try Salsiccia di Bra — it’s the town’s speciality.’ So she took me to a local butcher’s shop. The butcher behind the counter happily offered me a taste. Back in Japan, I had never been entirely comfortable with the distinctive texture of raw meat — that soft, slightly slippery feeling — so I put it into my mouth with a little hesitation. I was genuinel

Glucose spikes usually start on your plate. They're not just a medical concern. A spike is that sharp rise in blood sugar after eating, followed by the inevitable drop. When spikes happen often and linger, they can point to reduced insulin sensitivity — an early warning sign of type 2 diabetes. Even for those without diabetes, repeated spikes can drain energy, trigger cravings, and, over time, take their toll on long-term health. And it’s not just sugary foods. Refined starch

The co-authors explain the glycaemic index as a practical way to understand how different carbohydrates affect blood sugar, energy, and appetite. The book encourages reader to choose smarter carbs rather than cutting them our altogether. It links everyday food choices to longer-term health, including diabetes risk and metabolic wellbeing.

Italian Bakery Apprenticeship Series (1) LOST IN TRANSLATION: LIFE OF A JAPANESE GIRL IN ITALY After baking a sourdough loaf using a starter that a local baker in Bra had kindly shared with me, I returned the following day to ask for feedback. That visit led to an unexpected opportunity: I was invited to spend several days as an apprentice in the bakery. During my time there, I began to notice a number of things about the world of the Italian forno — a traditional neighbourho

Ten years after the 2016 referendum, the border is no longer just a line on a map. It sits firmly in the supermarket. The old comparison between France and the UK was framed as culture: fresh versus processed, daily shopping versus weekly stockpiling. In reality, both metropolitan systems rely on large retailers, complex logistics, and international supply. What has changed is how those systems function. In France, supermarkets are part of the EU single market. Food moves wit

Issue Vol. 2 — Urban Food Systems and the Loss of Connection 1. Food as a Commodity — and the Loss of Human Connection Food should be treated as a human right: something everyone should access with dignity. But in many modern societies, it is treated more like a commodity - something to buy instead of something to be shared. Knowledge about food was once passed down through everyday life — from grandparents, neighbours, and local communities. People learned how to cook seaso

The urban orchard is slowly returning to cities as social infrastructure, not ornament. These trees are here to feed people, cool the streets, and bring care back into urban life. That’s what MoM is about: nourishing people, place and soil. Not as an afterthought at the edges of the city, but right at its heart. Fruit trees are not a new idea. They once sat at the edges of farms and villages, doing humble, productive work. Then came the tidy lawn, and cities began treating tr

LOST IN TRANSLATION: LIFE OF A JAPANESE GIRL IN ITALY The world of bacteria is, in some ways, remarkably simple. Microorganisms, much like us, ‘eat’: they consume sugar and convert it into the energy they need to move and survive. We, in turn, consume the by-products of that metabolism. Since moving to Italy, I’ve become far more aware of this microbial world than ever before. Lactic acid bacteria feed on the lactose found in milk and produce lactic acid. Their speciality is

A seed is never just a seed. It’s a tiny capsule of history, carrying the tastes, migrations, and care of generations. Seeds from just a handful of grass families - wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, and millets - now supply most of the world’s calories. Not by chance, but by policy, scale, and a steady push towards uniformity. That archive is thinning. Over the past century, around 75% of crop diversity has disappeared. Ecologists measure yield; economists, cost. But what slowly s