Dr. Christina Bantle
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From ice cream seller to IFBC student
Dr. Christina Bantle (photo Wessolek) - MSc International Food Business and Consumer Studies, graduated in 2011.
Currently: Academic assistant in the Department of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde University of Applied Sciences
I actually wanted to make ice cream, delicious varieties made from milk from happy cows. In 2007, I worked on a Canadian organic farm for a few months and learned how to make ice cream there. The start of my career in Germany was then sobering - working when others are eating ice cream? I obviously hadn't thought that through enough. In my previous job, I had explored Hanover's city centre with young people from a consumer and globalization-critical perspective, which I liked. So I was looking for a place in Germany where creative educational work with global references could be implemented and where I could get involved. Someone told me about the tropical greenhouse in Witzenhausen. I got in touch with the curator of the greenhouse, Marina Hethke, and got on the train to Hesse. The tropical greenhouse was impressive, Marina was full of energy and I liked the place. I saw a note with four letters on a door: IFBC. I went closer: International Food Business and Consumer Studies. That sounded good. And it also had something to do with ice cream. Food and all that. I saw the opportunity to get back into educational work in one place and complete a Master's degree at the same time. So I applied for a place on the course, made it clear during the selection process that a first degree in landscape architecture and environmental planning was an excellent basis for the IFBC, and began my studies in the winter semester of 2008.
Study and try out
We were a small cohort, maybe 15 people, and as German students we were in the minority. The title "Food" in the degree course had brought together food-loving people from all over the world. We went to lectures, started international study groups and sampled international dishes prepared in the kitchens of the halls of residence. For a large part of the time, we were a Syrian-Albanian-Zimbabwean-Russian-Indian-German group that was constantly enriched by students from other nations. We ate, discussed the sense and nonsense of "organic" and celebrated. On Monday morning, my fellow students and I stood freezing together at the train station in Eichenberg to travel to Fulda. I was also working in the tropical greenhouse - after all, that's why I had come to Witzenhausen!
After my Master's degree, I had the opportunity to do a PhD with Professor Ulrich Hamm, for which I stayed in Witzenhausen. I changed sides in the lecture hall and was now a lecturer at the IFBC. I was completely in my element when interacting with the students. At the end of my doctorate, Professor Hamm drew my attention to a job advertisement at the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde. The position seemed perfect for me. And apparently it was, because I was accepted and from 2015 onwards I worked there as a visiting professor for three years, and for a further three years as an academic assistant with a focus on teaching.
Long live diversity!
The specialist knowledge I gained during my studies and doctorate forms the basis of what I did in Eberswalde until recently: I mainly taught marketing for organic food and sustainable nutrition. But all my other experiences in Witzenhausen have shaped the way I have taught: Our colorful, international IFBC cohort taught me to appreciate the diversity among the students and the great added value of heterogeneous groups. In my teaching, I tried to bring in as many diverse, international perspectives on topics as possible, to facilitate open discussions and to encourage individuality. In my course "Sustainable food systems", I took up a feminist perspective for the first time this year. And who gave me the idea? A Spanish Master's student. That's no coincidence, is it? Together with her, I will now also introduce this perspective to Master's students - and hopefully other people - and I am already looking forward to the mutual inspiration.
So: Thank you, Witzenhausen. Without you, I might still be annoyed that I'm working while others are eating ice cream.