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Looking at the innovations coming out of the food industry and technology labs, a protein transition seems within reach. Outside the lab, however, this optimistic future is much harder to discern. Consumption of meat and dairy remains at a high level and wherever meat curtailment is attempted, fierce backlash is almost certain. To drive the transition, we cannot only rely on technological innovation: we also need to tackle challenges in societal acceptance. Two major shifts in societal support – practice-based and ideology-based – are necessary to accelerate a protein transition.

Food aid has become an integral part of welfare states across Europe, which was particularly striking during the socio-economic COVID-19 crisis. So far, however,there has been little cross-national research on how food aid is organised and em-bedded in European welfare arrangements. The international project "Food aid in Europe in times of the COVID-19 crisis" therefore addressed this research gap by conducting a cross-sectional survey and collecting quantitative data on food aid indifferent European countries at the same time (Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain). Our findings show that food aid has diverse links to the welfare state arrangement despite different country contexts, indicating that food aid is becoming institutionalised across Europe. During the COVID-19 crisis, these links seem to have strengthened. Our findings also point to a significant role of the Fund for European Aid to the Deprived (FEAD) in food aid

This paper focuses on the interface between gender roles in water provision and use at household and community level and its relationship with women’s practical and strategic gender needs. Data were collected in nine villages in the districts of Kondoa and Mpwapwa, Dodoma region in Tanzania. Results have shown that women gain more knowledge on the appropriateness of water for consumptive and productive uses while pursuing their reproductive roles in the provision and use of domestic water at the household level. However, social-cultural context limit women’s participation during designing and planning of water services at community level; ultimately their preferences and perceptions on the appropriateness of the domestic water are not integrated in the water projects. We recommend systematic analysis on the interdependence between women’s domestic water needs, their involvement in community management and the bigger picture of gender roles in society.

Within Western societies, the detrimental consequences of mass consumption on the environment have long been identified. Consumers have developed sustainability consciousness in accordance with research and policies. In non-Western societies, however, experiences with mass consumption have not been so long standing. Furthermore, the extent of mass consumerism is not as wide ranging as in many of the richer countries in the world. In central Asian countries, a soviet history adds to this the concept of resource depletion and sustainability impacting industrialization as an ideological taboo. Currently, central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan are embarking on enacting sustainability policies. Kyrgyz consumers are also developing sustainability awareness. This awareness sometimes leads to either new practices or changes in existing practices. However, consumption practices are too complex to assume that only consciousness will lead to increasingly sustainable practices. Furthermore, there is no control over the content of such awareness. The case of emergent sustainable consumption in Kyrgyzstan demonstrates how sustainability values become integrated with locally existing knowledge, meanings and material circumstances. The intent of this study is to investigate how Kyrgyz consumers perceive sustainable consumption and whether and how they integrate sustainability awareness into practices and with other values. Our data consist of 50 structured interviews that were conducted during the summer of 2013 in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. Closed questions were analysed employing descriptive statistics, whereas a qualitative content analysis was applied to the results of open questions. The results provide an insight into the way in which emerging sustainability awareness is able to develop and how such awareness becomes integrated into existing practices and values.

This article addresses the question how ethnic identities are framed at festivals and which role consumption and commoditization play in this process. It looks at three kinds of festivals, multicultural, ethnic and neighbourhood festivals, and is based on observations at several festivals as well as interviews with organizers. The festivals are regarded as spaces of consumption. Not only is food and drink often a central part of such festivals, also the staged performances and the ethnic identities presented at the festivals should be considered consumables. It appears that ethnicity is framed in ways which are very particular, and which are seductive to the visitors of such festivals. Ethnic identities are highlighted with recognizable symbols, and less attractive aspects of culture are not included. Furthermore, through the consumption of ethnicity, visitors can even be said to enable this performance. Thus, the role of visitors and consumers at the festivals cannot be neglected in the performance of ethnicity. However, looking at the performance of ethnic identities through the lens of consumption acknowledges an active role for those who bring their ethnicity to the marketplace. Ethnic identities made tangible in objects and staged performances become objects of desire, but the people who identify with a certain ethnic identity also actively seduce the visitors

Veel Nederlanders hebben misschien een Turkse waterpijp of Marokkaanse theeglaasjes in huis, maar de meeste mensen hebben er geen idee van hoe het er bij Turkse en Marokkaanse Nederlanders thuis uitziet. Dit boek brengt hier verandering in. In twee rijk geïllustreerde en toegankelijk geschreven essays wordt een kleurrijk en levendig beeld gegeven van de interieurs van Turkse en Marokkaanse Nederlanders. Het boekje is geïllustreerd met kleurenfoto’s van de interieurs. De auteurs laten de spanning zien tussen de verschillende Turks-Nederlandse (t)huizen, variërend van oude en soms verouderde negentiendeeeuwse appartementen en vinexwoningen in Nederland, tot lemen plattelandshuizen, vakantiehuisjes en luxueus gemeubileerde villa’s in Turkije. Tussen deze (t)huizen wordt jaarlijks heen en weer gereisd. De auteurs gaan in op de verschillen tussen Turkse en Marokkaanse Nederlanders in hun omgang met traditie en moderniteit. Steeds meer Marokkaanse Nederlanders combineren een westers bankstel met een traditioneel ogende, maar gloednieuwe Marokkaanse salon en gebruiken beide ook daadwerkelijk. Bij de ontvangst van gasten, kiezen Turkse Nederlanders vaker voor de combinatie van een ‘westers’ bankstel en glanzende meubels. Deze worden soms gecombineerd met een museale uitstalling van een reeks ‘authentieke’, oude en niet voor gebruik bestemde Turkse accessoires, eventueel in een ‘oosters’ lounge-hoekje.

Veel Nederlanders hebben misschien een Turkse waterpijp of Marokkaanse theeglaasjes in huis, maar de meeste mensen hebben er geen idee van hoe het er bij Turkse en Marokkaanse Nederlanders thuis uitziet. Dit boek brengt hier verandering in. In twee rijk geïllustreerde en toegankelijk geschreven essays wordt een kleurrijk en levendig beeld gegeven van de interieurs van Turkse en Marokkaanse Nederlanders. Het boekje is geïllustreerd met kleurenfoto’s van de interieurs. De auteurs laten de spanning zien tussen de verschillende Turks-Nederlandse (t)huizen, variërend van oude en soms verouderde negentiendeeeuwse appartementen en vinexwoningen in Nederland, tot lemen plattelandshuizen, vakantiehuisjes en luxueus gemeubileerde villa’s in Turkije. Tussen deze (t)huizen wordt jaarlijks heen en weer gereisd. De auteurs gaan in op de verschillen tussen Turkse en Marokkaanse Nederlanders in hun omgang met traditie en moderniteit. Steeds meer Marokkaanse Nederlanders combineren een westers bankstel met een traditioneel ogende, maar gloednieuwe Marokkaanse salon en gebruiken beide ook daadwerkelijk. Bij de ontvangst van gasten, kiezen Turkse Nederlanders vaker voor de combinatie van een ‘westers’ bankstel en glanzende meubels. Deze worden soms gecombineerd met een museale uitstalling van een reeks ‘authentieke’, oude en niet voor gebruik bestemde Turkse accessoires, eventueel in een ‘oosters’ lounge-hoekje.