By: Ema Kosova, 15-04-25

Circular food systems are about more than rescuing discarded materials. They require new ways of thinking about what counts as waste and value. This poses a great mental challenge to those of us who have been taught to believe that processes are naturally linear and that waste is an inevitable outcome.

Here are eight books that challenge conventional thinking and help reframe how we see food sidestreams - not as waste, but as building blocks for a regenerative future for food, people, and planet.

1. The Third Plate – Dan Barber

In The Third Plate, chef Dan Barber explores the evolving landscape of food, challenging the way we think about farming, eating, and the entire food system. Barber invites us to design cuisine around ecological realities, not personal preferences. He makes the case that waste isn’t just scraps - it’s a symptom of a broken system where ingredients are divorced from the landscapes that produce them. According to Barber, sidestreams can be repurposed into culinary treasures, encouraging a return to using everything we produce in a more regenerative, circular way.

Takeaway: Circularity starts on the plate. Upcycled ingredients won’t scale until chefs, producers and eaters embrace systems-based eating.

2. Drawdown – Paul Hawken (Ed.)

Drawdown is a comprehensive and data-driven guide to the most effective solutions for reversing global warming, compiled by Paul Hawken and a team of scientists and researchers. Among the most effective strategies? Reducing food waste. Upcycled food is a direct route to mitigating emissions, conserving resources, and building climate-smart businesses.

Takeaway: Sidestream innovation isn’t just about sustainability branding - it’s climate action at scale.

3. Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer

Braiding Sweetgrass blends Indigenous wisdom with scientific knowledge, exploring how humans can live in a balanced and reciprocal relationship with nature. Kimmerer, a botanist and citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, encourages a shift from extractive practices to ones rooted in respect, gratitude, and care for the environment. When we harvest, cook, or manufacture without wasting, we honor a relationship - not just a resource. This book is a poetic reminder that sustainability is rooted in reciprocity, shifting the frame from efficiency to attentiveness and relationships of care.

Takeaway: Upcycling can be positioned not just as resourceful, but as respectful. Culture change is as important as technology.

4. Diet for a Small Planet – Frances Moore Lappé

Dieta para un planeta pequeño (Diet for a Small Planet) is a foundational text in food system activism. Lappé argues that the way we produce and consume food contributes significantly to environmental degradation and social inequality. Hunger is not caused by scarcity, but by inefficiency and inequity. According to Lappé, we don’t need to produce more food - we need to rethink how and what we consume.

Takeaway: Upcycling is a tool for food justice, not just food innovation.

5. FoodTech – Beatriz Romanos Hernando

A wide-angle look at how innovation is reshaping the agri-food sector. Food Tech highlights the ways technology can drive sustainability, efficiency, and resilience in food systems. From precision fermentation to byproduct valorisation, this book places upcycling squarely within the broader wave of food system disruption. By leveraging technology to transform waste into valuable products, we can create sustainable foods that minimise environmental impact.

Takeaway: Sidestreams are not side projects. They are the raw material for the next generation of food ventures.

6. Entangled Life – Merlin Sheldrake

Sheldrake explores the fungal world - a biological system where nothing is wasted and everything is repurposed. The book’s central theme is the interconnectedness of all living systems and the power of fungi to shape and sustain life. Sheldrake uncovers how fungi connect all life forms, facilitate communication and nutrient exchange, and contribute to the cycle of life and death in nature. It's a profound metaphor for circularity, and a reminder that nature offers the best blueprint for regenerative design.

Takeaway: Circular food systems can take cues from the networked and collaborative logic of fungi.

7. The Dorito Effect – Mark Schatzker

Mark Schatzker investigates the rise of hyper-processed, artificially flavoured foods and how they disconnect us from real, nutritious food. The book explores how the food industry uses flavour engineering to trick our senses, leading to overconsumption of unhealthy foods. Schatzker’s critique of the processed food industry connects with upcycling in that both seek to restore authenticity to the food system. Upcycled food can bring back natural, unaltered flavours and help consumers reconnect with the origins of what they eat.

Takeaway: Upcycled ingredients can play a key role in making food more wholesome, nutritious, and flavourful again.

8. A Natural History of the Future – Rob Dunn

A fascinating look at how biology and evolution shape our future. Dunn discusses how the natural world’s adaptive processes can inform the way we approach challenges like food security, environmental sustainability, and the future of human development. Dunn argues that the systems that survive will be the ones that adapt and waste the least – just like nature where everything is recycled, re-used, and repurposed.

Takeaway: Circular food systems mirror how ecosystems thrive: through adaptability, diversity, and nothing wasted.

What's on Your Reading List?

These eight books remind us that a sustainable approach to food starts with a shift in perspective. Whether you're developing food products, shaping strategy, or rethinking sourcing – these reads can inspire more resilient and circular thinking.

What book transformed your view of food or waste? Let’s share ideas – join the conversation on LinkedIn or Instagram.

♻️ Every grain counts!