Dorottya Kaló

Dorottya is a food system enthusiast with experience in conducting research related to nutrition, agriculture and food governance. Before starting at REVOLVE, she completed a traineeship at the DG for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission and an internship at CONCITO, a Danish climate think tank.

She holds a Master’s in Integrated Food Studies from the University of Copenhagen and a BA (Hons) in Culinary Arts Management. Her primary interest revolves around advocating for a holistic, system-level perspective on commodities in the agri-food sector, and she believes that all actors from farm-to-fork have a role in driving the sustainable transition of our food systems.

As a former pastry chef, an avid runner and hiker, Dorottya enjoys researching and translating scientific knowledge into materials that are easily understandable for a greater audience.

I’m sustainable

I value quality over quantity, which is reflected in my consumption habits (like shopping for clothes, food and services). I also believe in a sharing economy as I think collaboration leads to better outcomes than being a lone wolf.

The future I want

Sustainability has several interpretations, and some dimensions could be more valued based on what interests and positions stakeholders have. This debate entails decisions on temporal dimensions (trade-offs on the present versus future generation) and has a strong justice aspect – namely to whom the process benefits or to whom it does harm.

There is an urgent need to clarify what sustainable food systems should entail and how we can use our resources efficiently while having similar functional integrity as the current system.

This paradigm shift would require an institutional change. Central elements of research should focus on the different trade-offs in food systems. Furthermore, the cultural dimension of sustainability should not be neglected, since culturally, food plays an important role in one’s identity, therefore this change cannot only be based on pragmatic terms. All these dimensions could help societies understand the complexity of sustainable food systems, and trade-offs could be better addressed to make more balanced decisions based on ecological, social and economic pillars of sustainability.