Project: Food Change: Strategies for Social-Ecological Transformations in the Field Environment-Food-Health

A joint research project within ökoforum Project Head: Doris Hayn Project Team: Doris Hayn Claudia Empacher (till end of 2003) Konrad Götz Stephanie Schubert Barbara Birzle-Harder Cooperation Partners: Öko-Institute e.V. Institute for Applied Ecology (overall project management) Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) KATALYSE – Institute for Applied Environmental Research Austrian Institute for Applied Ecology   Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research; own financial resources Duration: 07/02 – 09/05     Field of research Research Area: Everyday Life Ecology, Energy, Consumption   about the Institute

What we eat and how we eat are literally "on everyone's lips." BSE, animal transport, acryl amide and adiposity have all alarmed the public. Increasingly, the food system has become more and more a topic for the media. Societal interest in food and nutrition can also be seen in, among other things, the rising popularity of cooking programs on television and the large number of cookbooks on the market. Obviously, this is an area that people are greatly interested in. But how can developments in the area of food and nutrition be steered in a more sustainable manner? This question formed the core of the joint research project, "Food Change – Strategies for Social-Ecological Transformations in the Field Environment-Food-Health". The goal of the project was to describe possible paths towards a "Food Change" (in German "Ernährungswende") and to use it to develop actor specific strategies and communication concepts. From a consumer perspective, the discussion of food/nutrition is closely linked to health and environmental aspects. Therefore, an integrative understanding of the action field "environment-food-health" and an investigation of changes in this field (convenience trends, increasing out-of-home eating, etc) were viewed as a precondition for a sustainable configuration of structures within the food system. The situation of the food system was examined through four approaches to the problem, each focussing on a different aspect: "Food in Daily Life," Food and Products," "Food Outside the Home" and "Food and the Public." The approach "Food in Daily Life" worked on by ISOE looked at a central factor for any change in the food system: the consumer in her or his everyday life context. So far, in this sub-project trends in daily consumption of foodstuffs were researched and an analysis of nutritional ideals ("Leitbilder") was carried out. The changes in these "Leitbilder" over the past decades were analyzed, using information brochures and cookbooks. In 2003, ISOE carryied out a study of "food in daily life," using qualitative interviews with consumers. The meanings attributed to food/nutrition were analyzed, hypotheses concerning points of intervention for food change were developed, and the preparations for a representative survey made, with the aim of quantifying the results. A typology of nutrition styles was developed that, apart from nutritional orientations and opinions, also takes the daily life context into account as well as the actual eating behaviour. The development of actor specific communication and product strategies as a starting point formed a broad comprehension of sustainable nutrition which has to be environmentally friendly and health promoting at the same time. Moreover it has to be appropriate for everyday life and suitable for various behavioural patterns (sociocultural diversity). The investigation of the joint research project shows that a change to sustainable nutrition needs a paradigm shift: instead of regarding nutrition as private concern of the consumers a shared responsibility for sustainable nutrition by politics, companies and society is required. Moreover, sustainable nutrition needs policies and strategies which are geared at precaution, meaning to take the protection of the environment and of health into account just as the encouragement of environmental quality and health promotion through nutrition. Furthermore, four guiding principles form the framework for precise actor specific strategies: the acceptance and sharing of responsibility for sustainable nutrition by all actors in the field of environment-food-health (in German "Verantwortung teilen"), the strengthening of competences of professionals and consumers for sustainable nutrition (in German "Kompetenzen stärken"), the accumulation of sustainability qualities in nutrition products and services (in German "Qualitäten bündeln"), and the development of structures encouraging and facilitating sustainable nutrition (in German "Strukturen bilden"). A stakeholder workshop with participants from the food industry, catering companies, commercial enterprises, consumers organisations und health insurance agencies shows the possibility for diverse activities of different actors and within acting co-operations. It highlights that strategies for sustainable nutrition can’t just confine themselves to sustainable design of nutrition products and services, to ecological production processes. Also regulation by the state is needed for a move toward sustainable nutrition. Especially from an every day life perspective area-wide supply structures and situations have to be developed that take the consumer’s nutritional need into account: relief, the wish for simplification and for reduction of complexity. Strategies for sustainable nutrition have to be "making sustainable choices easy choices". Literature: The food style typology was presented by Immanuel Stieß in the range of the international symposium "9th Karlsruhe Nutrition Congress: Consumer and Nutrition - Challenges and Chances for Research and Society" in English  (pdf-file 348 kb)

2008-07-17