EAT YOUR WASTE — What if leftovers were a luxury?

During Vienna Design Week 2026, on behalf of the Circular Economy Forum Austria, Circular Food Design re-examined.
Christine Bertl Instead, on 4 October at the Vienna Design Week headquarters, he discussed the topic with Armin Winter (researcher, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna), Michael Moser (Cucina Alchimia, restaurant) and Michael Neuman (Kitocoat, start-up) about systemic synergies and transdisciplinary networks. It is only through close, cross-sector collaboration that it is possible to tap into untapped biological resources, such as the invasive crayfish, and make them accessible in a way that supports the circular economy. The event demonstrated how the various areas of expertise interlock. In this way, a threat to the ecosystem is transformed into an innovative resource for marketable products – utilised in a cascade of applications ranging from culinary uses to biomaterials.

The talk was held to accompany the exhibition „If You Can’t Beat Them, Eat Them”“ was organised, during which the cascading processing of the invasive signal crayfish was presented at the Cucina Alchimia restaurant as a decentralised biorefinery, at the intersection of design, science and gastronomy.

As project manager, Christine Bertl developed the academic concept and teaches at the Technikum Wien University of Applied Sciences.