Since our last issue of Food Science and Technology in March, we have had two IFST events that really demonstrated the operational changes that we have been through. Firstly, we had Members Week from 2–4 March, which encouraged many of our members (and some prospective members too!) to learn more about the Institute and importantly interact with each other. Whilst a chat over a social drink is difficult to replicate on a Zoom meeting, this remote way-of-working certainly has the ability to involve many more people than would have been the case with face-to-face meetings. This was an event that was completely ‘reinvented’, and in my view, benefitted a lot for that.

Particularly insightful was the conversation between our own Jon Poole in London and Belinda Moore in Queensland, Australia, who discussed the way that organisations like our own, need to develop to meet the needs of our members. This was a conversation that we may not have thought of facilitating without the impetus to connect online, but I know also provided much food for thought. This was the case for me personally, but I am sure for many others, and these future challenges are certainly something that your Board will need to seriously consider.

The other event has been the Spring Conference, which took place between the end of April and beginning of May. In 2020, the Spring Conference was one of our first events that we needed to ‘pivot’ from a ‘physical’ event to an online event and whilst it worked incredibly well, our ability to deliver a highly engaging online conference has clearly come on a lot since then. Whilst I hope that next year we will have returned to at least a ‘hybrid’ event, I think the IFST team should take much credit for delivering such engaging events in such a relatively short period of time and for constantly looking for ways to serve our members better.

I am delighted that the theme of this edition is Food Waste. This topic is close to my own heart and a subject I have actively pursued both in my business and personal life. Those that know we well, may be aware of my love of a certain 1970s Good Housekeeping book, called the Glut Cookery Book. This is my own personal bible, but I am sure there are some much more ‘futuristic’ solutions we can all learn from here!

自上一期食品科学与技术3 月以来，我们举办了两次 IFST 活动，真正展示了我们所经历的运营变化。首先，我们在 3 月 2 日至 4 日举办了会员周，这鼓励了我们的许多会员（以及一些潜在会员！）更多地了解研究所并重要地相互交流。虽然在 Zoom 会议上很难复制社交饮料上的聊天，但这种远程工作方式肯定能够比面对面会议涉及更多的人。这是一个完全“重新发明”的事件，在我看来，它从中受益匪浅。

特别有见地的是我们在伦敦的 Jon Poole 和澳大利亚昆士兰的 Belinda Moore 之间的对话，他们讨论了像我们这样的组织需要发展以满足会员需求的方式。如果没有在线连接的动力，我们可能不会想到会促进这种对话，但我知道这也提供了很多值得思考的食物。我个人就是这种情况，但我相信许多其他人也是如此，这些未来的挑战肯定是您的董事会需要认真考虑的问题。

另一个事件是春季会议，它发生在 4 月底和 5 月初之间。在 2020 年，春季会议是我们需要从“实体”活动“转变”为在线活动的首批活动之一，虽然它运作得非常好，但我们举办高度参与的在线会议的能力显然已经提升了从那时起很多。虽然我希望明年我们至少能恢复到“混合”活动，但我认为 IFST 团队应该在如此短的时间内提供如此引人入胜的活动并不断寻找方法来服务我们的会员更好。

我很高兴本期的主题是食物浪费。这个话题贴近我自己的内心，也是我在商业和个人生活中积极追求的主题。那些了解我们的人可能知道我对 1970 年代某本优秀的家政书籍的喜爱，名为Glut Cookery Book。这是我自己的个人圣经，但我相信我们可以从这里学到更多“未来主义”的解决方案！