Publications

Want to learn more about my work? Below is a list of my publications. I love putting big concepts and dreams into reality, so get in touch if you are looking for someone to lead or contribute to the development of your next big publication!

Books

Setting the table – a story of food policy innovation (2021)

Editor: Afton Halloran  //  Authors: Afton Halloran, Marie Persson, Elisabet Skylare, Mads Frederik Fischer-Møller

Where are the bold policies to follow, support or even lead the transition to a healthier and more sustainable food system? This guide is the conclusion to a conversation started by the Nordic prime ministers with Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges in 2017. Since then, the flagship project, Nordic Food Policy Lab, has staged dialogues, set the table for new encounters, co-produced knowledge and insights, and advocated for the potential of innovative policy to change the world. Throughout the pages of this guide, you’ll find a diverse array of 11 methods from around the world, for igniting dialogue, co-creating solutions or new directions and unravelling complex issues. The information within the pages of this guide is, therefore, meant to ensure that policymakers do not stand in a position where they see the daunting scale of the problem but feel unequipped to deal with it.

Cookbook for Systems Change: Nordic Innovation Strategies for Sustainable Food Systems (2020)

Editor: Afton Halloran  //  Authors: Afton Halloran, Amanda Wood, Florencia Aguirre, Marie Persson, Marius Weschke, Ove Kenneth Nodland

This cookbook of strategies for change is about the role that a strong public innovation system plays along the pathways towards sustainable food systems. We demonstrate this through a mission approach for deliberate food system transformation that can support people, planet and society. This strategy cookbook will provide the ingredients – templates for developing interventions, guides for how to get started and examples of cross-cutting projects – that you can use to create your own recipes for change. We offer a new, emergent way to work with complex and dynamic systems. The cookbook is intended primarily for national and regional innovation agencies, as the government has both a mandate and more authority than any other entity to lead the change needed to achieve sustainable food systems. However, because innovation ecosystems include a variety of different actors, this strategy cookbook also provides valuable insights into the roles that entrepreneurs and civil society and research organisations can play to cultivate change from the bottom-up.

Eight megatrends in Nordic-Baltic food systems (2020)

Authors: Mikelis Grivins, Afton Halloran, Maija Kale

This book uses megatrends as a way to reflect on the future of food in the Nordic- Baltic region. Here, futures thinking is understood as an informed reflection on the major changes that will occur in the coming decades in all areas of society. While megatrends are just one of many tools in the future consciousness toolkit, this method proves valid when determining the general direction of the future of food. It consists of several phenomena or a wide-ranging process of change and includes understanding tensions, weak signals and how the trend is formed. 

Solutions Menu: A Nordic Guide to Sustainable Food Policy (2018)

Editor: Afton Halloran //  Authors: Afton Halloran, Mads Fischer Møller, Marie Persson, Elisabet Skylare

For the first time, the most innovative food policy solutions in the Nordic Region have been brought together in a single document. The Solutions Menu includes 24 policies that aim to change food consumption and intends to inspire new and robust policy responses to the societal and environmental challenges caused by our current food systems. The Solutions Menu is produced by the Nordic Food Policy Lab, one of six flagship projects under the Nordic prime ministers’ Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges initiative.

The Solutions Menu is also available in Spanish! You can download it here.

Dreamer’s Guide: An abridge version of the Solutions Menu (2018)

Editor: Afton Halloran //  Authors: Afton Halloran, Mads Fischer Møller, Marie Persson, Elisabet Skylare

What is the best way to make sure that all children have equal access to nutritional food? What are the best ways to instill a greater sense of food culture and identity and what societal benefits can it bring? What is the best way to transition to diets that are better for us and for the health of the planet? One approach is through food policy. Read on, find inspiration and get in touch to share your ideas and your own policy solutions!

The Dreamer’s Guide is also available in Spanish! You can download it here.

Edible Insects in Sustainable Food Systems (2018)

Editors: Afton Halloran, Roberto Flore, Paul Vantomme, Nanna Roos

This text provides an important overview of the contributions of edible insects to ecological sustainability, livelihoods, nutrition and health, food culture and food systems around the world. While insect farming for both food and feed is rapidly increasing in popularity around the world, the role that wild insect species have played in the lives and societies of millions of people worldwide cannot be ignored. In order to represent this diversity, this work draws upon research conducted in a wide range of geographical locations and features a variety of different insect species.

Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security (2013)

Authors: Arnold van Huis, Joost Van Itterbeeck, Harmke Klunder, Esther Mertens, Afton Halloran, Giulia Muir, Paul Vantomme

This publication describes the contribution of insects to food security and examines future prospects for raising insects at a commercial scale to improve food and feed production, diversify diets, and support livelihoods in both developing and developed countries. It shows the many traditional and potential new uses of insects for direct human consumption and the opportunities for and constraints to farming them for food and feed. It examines the body of research on issues such as insect nutrition and food safety, the use of insects as animal feed, and the processing and preservation of insects and their products. It highlights the need to develop a regulatory framework to govern the use of insects for food security. And it presents case studies and examples from around the world.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Wickramasinghe, K., Breda, J., Berdzuli, N., Rippin, H., Farrand, C, Halloran, A. (2021) The shift to plant-based diets: Are we missing the point? Global Food Security. (In press).

Oloo, J., Halloran, A., Nyongesa, A. (2021) Socio-economic characteristics of cricket farmers in Lake Victoria Region of Kenya. International Journal of Tropic Insect Science. (In press).

Bakaloudi, D., Halloran, A., Rippin, R., Oikonomidou, A., Dardavesis, T., Williams, J., Wickramasinghe, K, Breda, J., Chourdakis, M. (2020) Intake, adequacy and quality of the vegan diet. A systematic review of the evidence. Clinical Nutrition. (In press).

Halloran, A., Ayieko, M., Oloo, J., Konyole, S. O., Alemu, M. H. & Roos, N. (2020) What determines farmers’ awareness and interest in adopting cricket farming? A pilot study from Kenya. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science. (Online only).

Rippin, H., Wickramasighe, K., Halloran, A., Whiting, S., Williams, J., Hetz, K., Pinedo, A., Breda, J. (2020) Disrupted food systems in the WHO European region – a threat or opportunity for healthy and sustainable food and nutrition? Food Security. 12: 859–864.

Halloran, A., Caparros Megido, R., Oloo, J., Weigel, T., Nsevolo, P., Francis, F. (2018). Comparative aspects of cricket farming in Thailand, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed. 4(2): 101 – 114.

Belluco, A., Halloran, A., Ricci, A. (2017). New protein sources and food legislation: the case of edible insects and EU law. Food Security. 9(4): 803-814.

Halloran, A., Roos, N., Hanboonsong., Bruun, S. (2017). Life cycle assessment of cricket farming in northeastern Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production. 156: 83–94.

Halloran, A., Roos, N., & Hanboonsong, Y. (2017) Cricket farming as a livelihood strategy in Thailand. Geographical Journal. 183(1): 112–124.

Halloran, A., Roos, N., Eilenberg, J., Cerutti, A, Bruun, S. (2016). Life cycle assessment of edible insects for food protein: a review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 36 (57).

Halloran, A., Roos, N., Flore, R. Hanboonsong, Y. (2016) The development of the edible cricket industry in Thailand. International Journal for Insects as Food and Feed. 2 (2): 91-100.

Evans, J., Alemu, M., Flore, R., Frøst, M., Halloran, A., et al. (2015) ‘Entomophagy’: an evolving terminology in need of review. International Journal for Insects as Food and Feed. 1 (4): 293-305.

Halloran, A., Flore, R., & Mercier, C (2015) Notes from the ‘Insects in a Gastronomic Context’ workshop in Bangkok, Thailand. International Journal for Insects as Food and Feed. 1 (3): 1-4.

Halloran, A., Vantomme, P., Hanboonsong, Y., Ekesi, S. (2015) Regulating entomophagy: the challenge of addressing food security, nature conservation, and the erosion of traditional food culture. Food Security. 7 (3): 739-746.

Halloran, A., Magid, J., Kornum, N., Clement, J & Bucatariu, C. (2014) Addressing food waste reduction in Denmark. Food Policy. 49 (1): 241-301.

Halloran, A., Münke, C., Vantomme, P., van Huis, A. (2014) Insects in the human food chain: global status and opportunities. Food Chain. 4 (2): 103-118.

Halloran, A & Magid, J. (2013) Planning the unplanned: Incorporating agriculture as an urban land use into the Dar es Salaam Master Plan and beyond. Environment and Urbanisation. 25 (2): 541-558.

Halloran, A & Magid (2013). The role of local government in promoting sustainable urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam and Copenhagen. Danish Journal of Geography. 113 (2): 121–132.

Book chapters and theses

Dzerefos, C., Halloran, A., De Souza, L. (202) The role of insects in enhancing ecosystem services of tree based-systems on degraded lands In Gupta, S and Dagar, J (Eds.)  The Handbook of Agroforestry: Volume 2 Agroforestry for Degraded Habitats. Springer Academic Press, New York.

Padulosi, S., Mareè Cawthorn, D., Meldruma, G., Flore, R., Halloran, A. Mattei, F. (2018) Leveraging Neglected and Underutilized Plant, Fungi, and Animal Species for More Nutrition Sensitive and Sustainable Food Systems In Ferranti, P.,  Berry, E.,  and Anderson, J. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Food Security and Sustainability. Elsevier, Cambridge.

Wilderspin, D. & Halloran, A. (2018). The effects of regulation, legislation and policy on consumption of edible insects in the Global South. In Halloran, A., Flore, R., Roos, N. & Vantomme, P. (Eds.) Edible Insects in Sustainable Food Systems. Springer Academic Press, New York.

Kaukua, P.K., Schiemer, C.S., Halloran, A., Jespersen, K. (2018). Marketing insects: superfood or solution? In Halloran, A., Flore, R., Roos, N. & Vantomme, P. (Eds.) Edible Insects in Sustainable Food Systems. Springer Academic Press, New York.

Halloran, A., Hansen., H.H., Jensen, L.S. & Bruun, S. (2018). Comparing environmental impacts from insects for feed and food as an alternative to animal production. In Halloran, A., Flore, R., Roos, N. & Vantomme, P. (Eds.) Edible Insects in Sustainable Food Systems. Springer Academic Press, New York.

Halloran, A & Flore, R. (2018). A new world of ingredients: aspiring chefs’ opinions on insects in gastronomy.  In Halloran, A., Flore, R., Roos, N. & Vantomme, P. (Eds.) Edible Insects in Sustainable Food Systems. Springer Academic Press, New York.

Halloran, A. (2017). The impact of cricket farming on rural livelihoods, nutrition and the environment in Thailand and Kenya. PhD Thesis. Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

Flore, R. & Halloran, A. (2017). EU Parliament. In Evans, R., Flore., & Frøst, M. (Eds.) On Eating Insects: Essays, Stories and Recipes. Phaidon Press, London.

Flore, R. & Halloran, A. (2017). Fieldwork in Thailand. In Evans, R., Flore., & Frøst, M. (Eds.) On Eating Insects: Essays, Stories and Recipes. Phaidon Press, London.

Halloran, A., Münke, C., Vantomme, P., Reade, B., Evans, J. (2015) Broadening insect gastronomy. In Sloan, P., Legrande, W., & Hindley, C. (Eds.) Sustainable Food, Beverage & Gastronomy. Routledge, London.

Münke, C., Halloran, A., Flore, R., Evans, J., Reade, B., Rittman, R., Linden, A., Irving, M., Georgiadis, P. (2015). Wild ideas in food. In Sloan, P., Legrande, W., & Hindley, C. (Eds.) Sustainable Food, Beverage & Gastronomy. Routledge, London.

Halloran A. (2012). Institutionalizing and legitimizing urban agriculture: The cases of Copenhagen, Denmark and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. MSc Thesis. Department of Agriculture and Ecology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

Policy Briefs

Halloran, A., Persson, M., Wickramasinghe, K., Iley, R., Kale, M., Penney, T. (2019) In the spirit of collaboration: Transforming Baltic diets. Nordic Food Policy Lab Brief, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Halloran, A & Persson, M. (2018) Joining Forces: Takeaways from the Designing Your Menu of Food Policy Solutions for Sustainable Diets Policy Lab at the EAT Stockholm Food Forum. Nordic Food Policy Lab Brief, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Halloran, A & Persson, M. (2018) Harvesting Bold Solutions: Ten takeaways from the Policy Lab “Serving-Up Solutions for Agenda 2030” at the UN HLPF. Nordic Food Policy Lab Brief, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Halloran, A., Fischer-Møller, M, Skylare, E. (2017) Setting the stage for a sustainable food future: Seven takeaways from Nordic Food Day at COP23. Nordic Food Policy Lab Brief, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Münke-Svendsen, C., Flore, R., Halloran, A., Roos, N. (2017) Insect gastronomy in Kenya. GREEiNSECT Technical Brief #4, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Münke-Svendsen, C., Halloran, A., Orinda, M., Oloo, J. Magara, H., Manyara, E.N. & Roos, N. (2017). Insect production systems for food and feed in Kenya. GREEiNSECT Technical Brief #2, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Münke-Svendsen, C., Ekesi, S., Ayieko, M., Kinyuru, J., Halloran, A., Makkar, H. & Roos, N (2016). Insects as food and feed in Kenya – past, current and future perspectives. GREEiNSECT Technical Brief #1, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Halloran, A. & Vantomme, P. (2013). The contribution of insects to food security, livelihoods and the environment. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome.