If to talk about food is to talk about the weather, then to talk about cuisine is also to talk about climate, its histories, futures, and uncertainties. In 1989 the chef Alice Waters claimed, “As restaurateurs, we are now involved in agriculture and its vagaries. This isn’t a matter of idealism but rather of self interest and survival.” This introduces how human appetites are architects shaping environments of worlds past and worlds present. And yet, why does environmental history prioritise production over consumption?

In response, I’m excited to be in Uppsala next week for the European Society for Environmental History’s 2025 Conference: Climate Histories. Together with Penelope Volinia and Philine Schiller, I will be “cooking the books” to stage a culinary conversation about archives, climate histories, and canned futures.