Coming from an engineering background, my relationship with food was only limited to my plate. In 2018, jumping straight from a civil engineering bachelor’s to a master’s in rural development changed the course of my career, and ‘Food,’ in a literal sense, became the most crucial part of my life.

During my master’s in 2019, a university senior, who had recently attended summer school, introduced me to the World Food System Center. His stories of ‘jumping on fabacean beans in a remote village of Switzerland’ would make me curious about the kind of adventure a summer school could provide. As the most obvious move, I, too, applied for the World Food System Summer School in 2020 but couldn’t join due to COVID-related disruptions.

Finally, in August this year, I landed in the serene village of Rheinau to attend the 10th World Food System Summer School. I was one among a cohort of 25 amazing people from 19 different nationalities, and 17 different academic discipinary backgrounds, brimming with passion and love for food. We hopped onto the trademark old truck to begin our Summer School Journey to understanding food systems in transition!