From 7 to 9 July, the CryoCultures ERC project team met for a workshop in Darmstadt. The focus of this meeting was on the term "freshness", its origin and further associations and its development in recent decades. In keeping with this, the team visited the "Perishable Centre Frankfurt", which is an important hub at Frankfurt Airport. Fresh goods from all over the world, such as high-quality beef from Japan or medicine from the USA, land there and are cooled as required for prompt onward transport. In terms of freshness, the project team worked intensively on further structuring, the distribution of tasks and interdisciplinary knowledge transfer in order to get ever closer to the goal of investigating the cryosphere.
The researchers were also accompanied and supported by Nicola Twilley. As part of this workshop, the author and podcaster gave an impressive presentation on her latest book "Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves", which was the highlight of this gathering. The event location was equally fascinating, as the lecture took place underground in Darmstadt, in an old ice cellar that was primarily used to cool alcoholic beverages in its day. You can find more information about the author and the event at the following link: cryocultures.org/2025/cryolecture-nicola-twilley/
With this knowledge, new tasks and a lot of work ahead, the team said goodbye last Wednesday. However, preparations for the upcoming meeting are already underway. From 7 to 9 January next year, Suzana Alpsancar and the Paderborn team will be hosting the next workshop. To keep up to date with the latest news, please visit the CryoCultures website: cryocultures.org
