Tasting the ocean: How to increase ocean literacy using seafood heritage with a visceral approach

Abstract

This contribution explores the growing interest in ocean literacy and sustainable seafood consumption through the lens of transdisciplinary and visceral research methods. It illustrates a series of experimental, marine-focused workshops, carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic for Irish students aged between 15 and 18. The empirical body builds on a series of questionnaires completed prior, during and at the end of the workshops as well as direct observations of feedbacks and interactions. By offering to the students creative and playful methods which included cooking classes, coastal explorations and information about their coastal cultural heritage, we argue that transdisciplinary and visceral methods can facilitate how ocean literacy and sustainable eating is understood and operationalised—in both educational programmes and policy frameworks.