Pedagogies of Craving: Using Food As Means of Collaborative Conscientization

As a crucial threat to sustain and expand life, food’s capacities go beyond functionality. From cultivating crops and gathering ingredients to preparing and sharing meals, food is embedded in a fluid network where sociocultural, political, and emotional layers intersect. This interconnectedness makes food a strategic entry point for unveiling and challenging complex power structures. In this context, we argue that food holds pedagogical potential to inspire (self)reflection on the sources, structures, and consequences of oppression. We frame this within the concept of pedagogies of craving, a process where communal recollection, preparation, and sharing of food bridge knowledge and practice. We interpret craving as a multilayered, visceral, and political experience—a hunger for individual and collective justice, care, and well-being that informs a collaborative process rooted in empathy, community, and joy. To explore this theoretical and methodological proposition, we reflect on three iterations of a course about research-creation, an international course hosted in Amsterdam between 2021 and 2024. The course sought to blur the boundaries between academia, art, and activism through creativity and curiosity. In this context, we facilitated three cooking sessions where food served as a medium for cultivating critical knowledge with a diverse classroom. The result was a series of dynamic encounters that brought the pedagogies of craving into practice, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie within the teaching space. These sessions also revealed both the possibilities and the challenges of implementing creative, non-normative approaches to co-creating knowledge.