The “Convivial Table between the Vines” invited us to return to the living heart of food and eating practices, where humans and other-than-humans – animals, plants, waters, bacteria, fungi – meet not as competitors for resources, but as complementary participants: as partners. Here, life does not unfold in isolation; it is entangled, reciprocal, and co-creative. Each being shapes and is shaped by the others, sustaining a shared and interdependent existence.

 Insects, microbes, and fungi – among the most resilient of earthly species – are steadily reclaiming their place within visions of sustainability. Long shadowed by disgust, these small and tireless lives have nourished ecosystems, soils, and human bodies alike. Once dismissed as pests, they are now emerging as companion species: quiet custodians of biodiversity, subtle architects of health.

 A widening awareness of these often-unnoticed forms of culture and life – of other “worlds” interwoven with our own – invites new constellations of collaboration. That is why we – activists, policymakers, winemakers, artists, chefs, and researchers – gathered that evening around the table: to make further room for them, to bring their trajectories into conversation with ours, and to imagine, all together, more generous ways of sharing a world.