Eating City Summer Campus 2026 – Where Controversy Becomes Collaboration

Are you ready to rethink the future of food?

For over 13 years, the Eating City Summer Campus has brought together nearly 300 young researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators and public leaders from more than 60 countries. In 2026, the Campus evolves into the Eating City Ecosystem—a global community where ideas become collaborations, innovation projects and real-world impact.

This year’s edition revolves around the Villarceaux Controversy, exploring three fundamental questions shaping tomorrow’s food systems:

• Human Well-being or Technological Dependency?
• Local Resilience or Global Optimisation?
• Food Democracy or Algorithmic Governance?

Forget traditional conferences.

During one immersive week in France, you’ll work alongside international experts, cities, companies and fellow participants through workshops, field experiences and a unique Human Tech Hackathon, co-designing practical solutions for healthier and more sustainable food systems.

The programme is supported by leading European initiatives—including SchoolFood4Change, GreenPaths, Food Wise and AI-ProFood—offering direct access to cutting-edge research, public policy, artificial intelligence and innovation.

Who Should Apply?

The Campus brings together three complementary communities:

• Eating City Ambassadors  ⬇️ download invitation letter
  Former participants and members of the Eating City network who contribute experience, international perspectives and mentorship.
• Innovation & Technology Participants  ⬇️ download invitation letter ➡️ Apply here
  Young researchers, entrepreneurs, AI specialists, designers and innovators developing new ideas, technologies and business models for sustainable food systems.
• Challenge Partners ⬇️ download invitation letter ➡️ Apply here
  Companies, cities, foundations and public institutions that bring real-world challenges and collaborate with participants to develop innovative and actionable solutions.

The dialogue—and sometimes the constructive disagreement—between these three communities is what makes the Villarceaux Controversy a unique learning and innovation experience.

We welcome motivated participants up to 35 years old who are curious, collaborative and eager to challenge conventional thinking. Diversity of disciplines, cultures and experiences has always been one of the Campus’s greatest strengths, creating a vibrant international community that continues well beyond the event itself.

Join the Eating City Ecosystem. Meet inspiring people. Build meaningful collaborations. Turn ideas into impact.

More information about the campus here.

Welcome to the Eating City Summer Campus 2023!

Since 2013, the Eating City Summer Campus has been bringing together talented young professionals and students with leading experts in the food sector, to share knowledge and experiences about food and food systems. You will connect with participants from all over Europe and beyond and high level professionals from Universities, research centres, public administrations, NGOs, private businesses and other stakeholders in the food sector. Get ready for an empowering week of learning, networking and sharing!

Read the ECSC2023 overview

SUMMER CAMPUS DECLARATION 2022

We are young people from across the world. We hold a wide range of perspectives: we are chefs, farmers, gastronomists, lawyers, nutritionists, entrepreneurs, students and researchers in environmental, food and social sciences, urban planning, economics, and communication. We share a passion and concern for our food systems, and acknowledge an urgent need for a paradigm shift – but we are full of hope.

The 8th ECSC Declaration

The 7th Villarceaux Declaration

The 7th “Eating City Summer Campus” will invite 28 participants aged 22-30 coming from Euro-Mediterranean* countries working & studying around food sustainability: Chefs, Gastronomists, Nutritionists, Food Procurement Officers – F&B Buyers, Farmers, Fisherman, Foodies, young professionals… or anyone work or studying around food issues –  to participate in this challenging adventure.

The Eating City Summer Campus experience brings together young people, researchers, senior professionals working in the public and private sectors, opinion and community leaders and builds participants’ capacity for learning and leading in the 21st century.

Implementing food sustainability means a profound conversion of the whole food supply chain, largely based on replacing industrialized & standardized products by human know-how. Consequently, training is seen as one of the main tools to achieve this aim by the participants of all Eating City workshops so far.

Interestingly, many cooks and chefs working in Public food service share the idea that sustainability should be able to stimulate new professional vocations which have been sidelined as second-choice jobs for too long. The same vision should also apply to farming; especially because development of local food supply chains cannot occur unless more young people decide become farmers…

In collaboration with:

We are pleased to announce the 6th “Eating City Summer Campus”, inviting 28 participants aged 22-32 working & studying around food sustainability: Chefs, Gastronomists, Nutritionists, Food Procurement Officers – F&B Buyers, Farmers, Fisherman, Foodies, young professionals… at anyone work or study ing around food issues – are invited to share this challenging adventure.

In collaboration with:

As usual this campus was open to youth interested in promoting sustainable food, including chefs, urban planner, farmers, fishermen, retailers, wholesalers, students and people from civil society working to encourage the use of organic & local food. However, due to the thematic of this year, focusing on Public Food Service, applications from young professionals enrolled by a public authority at local, national or European level, especially in jobs or activities related to food systems, have been encouraged.

“we were asked to produce a politically valid document – a declarations – that spoke for us all in one voice. During the first day of Campus we agreed however that yet another declaration would not be good enough, so we challenged ourselves even further to come up with a document with concrete and realistic action plans to reflect the measure we identified as most urgent in boosting the shift of paradigm. We sincerely hope our energy and creativity will be echoed in this text – the 4th Villarceaux Declaration.”

Download the document prepared by the participants

Get the document

Following the very exciting experience of last summer, we are pleased to announce the third “Eating City Summer Campus” with 43 young participants from all over the world, aged 22-28, involved any aspect related to food, invited to share this challenging adventure.

Implementing food sustainability means a deep conversion of the whole food supply chain, largely based on replacing industrialized & standardized products by human know-how. Consequently, training is one of the main tools promoted by the participants of all Eating City workshops so far. Interestingly, many cooks working in public food service have the feeling that sustainability should be able to stimulate new professional vocations for what has been for too long a sidelined, second choice job. The same vision should apply to farmers as well, especially because development of local food supply chains cannot occur unless more young people decide to work as farmers.

That’s why the Eating City platform has launched the idea to organize summer campuses open to youth working or studying any aspect related to food in order to increase their awareness and vision about sustainable food systems and also to create a new generation of decision makers able to take into account social, cultural and environmental value and to place people at the centre of economy. The Eating City Summer Campus experience brings together young people, researchers, senior professionals working in public and private sectors, opinion and community leaders, to build participants’ capacity for learning and leading in the 21st century.

Eating City will organize the 3rd edition of the summer campus open to youths from the 5 continents to look at the relationships between our food system and the four elements essential to life such as water, fire, earth and air, and to write together a common declaration that will be handed in at the Milan EXPO and shared in front of a panel of experts.

Applicants, aged 22-28, must be interested in promoting sustainable food. They can be chefs, farmers, retailers, wholesalers, urban planners, students, and people from civil society working to encourage the use of organic & local food.