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This paper seeks to understand how pro-environmental food practices among women and men in the EU can be supported by considering the interlinkages between gender equality and environmental sustainability. A special aspect is that the role of gender equality is interpreted in terms of Schwartz's theory on national cultural values, which relates gender equality to cultures that emphasize intellectual autonomy and egalitarianism. The paper investigated how pro-environmental food practices (including meat reduction) among women and men correlated with their countries' national income level and its level of gender equality. It was a multilevel analysis of survey data from 27 countries (Eurobarometer 95.1, Spring 2021). Considering that studies about gender equality and the environment often find problematically high correlations between gender equality and national income, this study focused on political gender equality (i.e. women's representation in parliament), which had desirable characteristics. National income and political gender equality had complementary impacts on the adoption of pro-environmental food practices (including meat reduction). Men reported more target practices when living in richer countries; the same applied even more strongly to women when living in richer and more politically gender-balanced countries. It was concluded that women may have developed more autonomy by, inter alia, adopting pro-environmental food practices. At the level of individual behavior, this illustrates “mutually reinforcing dynamics” in the pursuit of gender equality and environmental sustainability goals.

Meat reduction might become a new extension of the personal climate actions in the European Union (EU), but this development is not without challenges. Focusing on consumers, this paper investigates 1) how meat reduction is related to other climate actions and 2) how adopters of meat reduction and those who just take other actions differ in concerns about world problems and sociocultural characteristics. The data are from Eurobarometer 95.1 (Spring 2021). The analyses revealed that the adoption of meat reduction was related to the adoption of other climate actions, but that it was not on par with mainstream pro-environmental actions. Participants who incorporated meat reduction in their climate actions were more than the others motivated by broad environmental, social and public health concerns. Those who did not incorporate meat reduction scored lower on these concerns and might have been negatively affected by incongruences between the cultural meaning of meat reduction and their cultural identities in terms of right-wing positions, masculinity or social class. The results showed that meat reduction is part of an adoption process and that the Northwestern countries were somewhat further on in this process than the Southern and Eastern countries.

This study explored whether EU's new Farm to Fork strategy (F2F)—which aims to tackle climate change, protect the environment and preserve biodiversity in the pursuit of more sustainable food practices—moves in a direction that matches consumer concerns about global issues. A key point is that the traditional differences between the policy approaches related to climate change mitigation and to biodiversity protection, respectively, correspond to differences between environment-based and nature-based attitudes at an individual level. Data from Eurobarometer 92.4 (2019) provided a set of environmental concerns and two food-related pro-environmental actions (buying local products and making a diet change to more sustainable food). Consumer responses to the latter option were assumed to indicate steps in parallel with F2F. Two multinomial regression analyses were carried out separately in Northwestern European countries, and in Eastern and Southern European countries. In both analyses, climate change and species decline were distinct sources of consumer concern, which were—independent of one another—more strongly related to reporting both options than to one option only. It was concluded that the F2F policy is in line with consumer concerns about environment and nature and that this may create important new perspectives for policymakers, businesses and consumers.

Background Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires a relatively rapid transition towards a circular economy. Therefore, a multidisciplinary perspective is required to sketch why a transition from diets based primarily on animal proteins towards diets based primarily on plant proteins products is extremely urgent for both food security and sustainability. Scope and approach This review starts out by identifying ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainable food consumption. Subsequently, it is argued how protein supply is underlying and linking the top-3 of anthropogenic impacts based on the planetary boundaries concept, i.e. 1) biodiversity loss, 2) nitrogen cycle acceleration, and 3) carbon cycle acceleration (resulting in climate change). These environmental impacts associated with current Western food consumption need to be reduced urgently. In order to address the inefficiencies inherent to current dietary patterns, therefore, a ranked list of more sustainable options is proposed, based on their order of magnitude. Addressing consumers, industry, and governmental stakeholders plus cultural aspects, challenges and options are sketched. Key findings and conclusions Clearly, a dietary transition from primarily animal towards plant protein products is required. Fortunately, new dietary guidelines are increasingly taking sustainability into account and the contours of a diet transition are slowly emerging.

Fish has several benefits that make it a desirable part of a healthy diet. It is also a high-protein product that can be used as a relatively efficient meat replacer. Both from a health and sustainability perspective, however, it is important to consider the optimum number of fish servings per week and to examine whether fish and plant protein can be brought under the same heading of alternative protein sources. To explore the consumer perspective on these issues, this paper draws on a brief literature study and a re-analysis of survey data from the Netherlands collected earlier. The hypothesis was that affinities with fish consumption and plant-based protein sources are to a certain extent related to each other, based on common relationships with food involvement, which set them apart from meat. The results showed that the hypothesis needed to be nuanced: fish consumption was associated exclusively with affinity with spicy meals based on authentic plant protein sources (e.g. nuts) and this relationship was partially based on food involvement. The results are in line with current Dutch recommendations that encourage consumers to eat one serving of fish per week and that stimulate those who already eat more than one serving of fish to replace the rest by plant-based protein sources.

Using data from Eurobarometer 83.4, this study combines the two branches of research that address climate-related and biodiversity-related opinions and actions of individuals in the EU. The literature shows that the differences between climate-related and biodiversity-related policies correspond, at an individual level, to a person's basic attitudes towards environmental protection and towards nature protection, respectively. The contribution of this study is to demonstrate how these attitudes can influence behavior that has environmental repercussions for both issues, such as food consumption practices. The analysis focused on two Eurobarometer questions about buying local and seasonal food (to fight climate change) and about buying organic and local food (to protect biodiversity and nature). The results of two multinomial regression analyses, separately in Northwestern European countries and Eastern and Southern European countries, demonstrated that climate-related and biodiversity-related attitudes were, independent of each other, related to the adoption of these purchase behaviors. The results may support Europe’s new Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy and indicate that improving food consumption practices can enable individuals to better play their part in fighting climate change and biodiversity loss simultaneously, which opens up interesting new perspectives for policymakers, businesses and consumers.

This paper aims to highlight the position of meat reduction in what EU consumers think “eating a healthy and sustainable diet” involves and who has a role to play in achieving food system change. The data are based on the Eurobarometer 93.2 survey (mid 2020). The participants were asked to make their own selections out of a variety of food-related items and actors, linked to meat (“Eating meat less often”) and other aspects of diets (“Eating more fruit and vegetables”). Their responses were analyzed separately in two EU regions: Northwest Europe—consisting of the 10 richest EU countries with the highest scores on economic and social sustainable development indicators— and the East and the South. Three principal components of dietary thinking were distinguished, relating to 1) nutrition issues, 2) easy “light green” issues and 3) more demanding “deeper green” issues, respectively. The analysis also distinguished three types of actors in the value chain (food chain actors, supporting actors, and governmental actors). In Northwestern Europe, a majority of consumers saw a role for themselves in making the food system more sustainable and a large minority saw meat reduction as part of a healthy and sustainable diet. Both responses were much less common in the East and South. In the Northwest, meat reduction was relatively strongly related to “deeper green” thinking but also weakly to nutrition-focused thinking, whereas the opposite was found in the East and South. However, meat reduction had no prominent position in their considerations. For policy-makers, therefore, it is crucial that both nutrition and environment can be motivating factors for consumers to consider meat reduction, albeit to different degrees.

This paper investigates how consumers can be guided towards healthy diets from sustainable and more animal-friendly food systems, in times when no single food system can be considered the best. In order to provide an alternative, the paper focuses on how farm animal welfare concerns can be translated into potential consumer goals, inspired by the “Three Rs” principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement, originally developed to systematically improve the welfare of laboratory animals. After some adaptations, the three goals established are 1) to eat less meat, and/or 2) “less and better” meat, and/or 3) “less worrisome” animal protein, respectively, which imply choices described in the literature on consumer behavior. This literature shows that the goal of eating less meat is relatively straightforward, but needs to be made more prominent, and that the goals of eating “less and better” meat or eating “less worrisome” animal protein need more nuances regarding the specific trade-offs that should be made in terms of species, production types and geographic locations. This may help to better integrate the repercussions of food choices for human health, animal welfare, climate change and biodiversity, the relative importance of which varies between countries and consumer segments. In conclusion, it should be emphasized that Reduction, Replacement and Refinement are not just different parts of the same process to meet human health and animal welfare challenges, but also powerful options to combat the climate, biodiversity and—last but not least—food security challenges of the next few decades.

This paper proposes a transition framework for restoring a healthy and sustainable balance in protein consumption in high-meat eating countries. The transition aims to reduce total protein intake as well as the dietary ratio of animal over plant protein (from 60:40 via 50:50 to 40:60), which will require changes in consumer food choice processes at the levels of diets, dishes and dish ingredients. The paper describes the background and the potential use in strategy development of the proposed DDDI (diets, dishes, dish ingredients) framework, building on existing literature. The material is integrated in a novel manner, with a key role for two dish-oriented strategies as links between national dietary guidelines, on the one hand, and product-oriented marketing approaches, on the other hand. The first strategy is promoting a varied dish pattern that includes at least some dishes with alternative protein ingredients, chosen for reasons of either meatiness, authenticity or convenience. The second strategy involves promoting a shift to mixed dishes in which part of the protein is of animal origin and the rest of plant origin. Additional complimentary strategies will be necessary to address high incomes (for sustainability) and low incomes (for health).

PurposeA shift to a healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission) needs to have a strong societal legitimation. This makes it relevant to investigate to what extent countries are using their Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) in ways that can stimulate such a shift.Design/methodology/approachGiven the pivotal role of protein, the authors examined what patterns of protein-related recommendations are used to guide consumers and how these patterns are related to specific contexts and societal priorities of the countries.FindingsThe analysis of data from 93 countries worldwide revealed two emerging patterns of recommendations. One pattern (found in a cluster of 23% of the countries) combined positive advice about key protein sources with limiting messages to reduce (or replace) the consumption of animal protein. The other pattern (found in a cluster of 24%) encouraged both animal and plant protein, thereby diversifying the set of protein sources, without negative advice on animal-based food sources. The two patterns of recommendations were differently associated with health and nutrition variables, including the countries' level of animal protein supply (in particular, dairy) and the prevalence of overweight individuals among adult men.Social implicationsFor all stakeholders, it is of crucial importance to realize that an increasing number of countries in the world are moving in the direction of acknowledging and addressing the diet-health-environment nexus by adapting their patterns of recommendations for key protein sources.Originality/valueThis study is the first that reveals patterns in recommendations with respect to protein sources by different nations worldwide.

In this research it is aimed to outline the role and potential contribution of insects towards food security and sustainability from a multidisciplinary perspective. First, ecological, economic and social aspects of food sustainability and food security are identified by prioritising the environmental impacts associated with food production and consumption. Subsequently, it is argued how protein supply is underlying and linking the top-3 of anthropogenic impacts, i.e. (1) biodiversity loss; (2) nitrogen cycle acceleration; and (3) carbon cycle acceleration (resulting in climate change). In order to address the production and consumption inefficiencies inherent to the current food system a ranked list of more sustainable options is proposed, based on their order of magnitude. Versatile side-stream valorisation returning losses to the food chain is deemed a unique selling point of insects. In addition to quantitative impacts, however, qualitative aspects relating to feasibility also play an important part. In that respect, just a minority of Western consumers are inclined to adopt insects as food. As an illustration, consumer acceptance of edible insects as attractive food items are quantified at the level of diets, dishes and ingredients (for the Netherlands). From the perspective of sustainability, the potential of insects is reflected upon. Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires a relatively rapid transition towards a circular economy. In this light, insects are undeniably useful for food, feed, and other purposes. Health may be key to entice consumers to drop their conservative attitudes and progress towards a diet transition. However, an integrated, multidisciplinary approach including all stakeholders remains a prerequisite.

A shift to a more healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission report) is currently hampered by persistent choices for meat, which are based on stable preferences and positive feedback mechanisms at the individual, social, and economic/organizational level. This paper puts forward the view that proposals for a diet shift will fall short without broad social legitimation, aimed at a change in social norms. That what previously belonged to the domain of morally acceptable practices (eating animal protein sources) has to be strongly limited, whereas what was previously not considered particularly noteworthy (eating plant protein sources) should become an accepted and, subsequently, a preferable alternative. This process of reordering has been set into motion by a typically expert-based legitimation, but the pace of its progress will depend on many other forces operating throughout society. Building on van Leeuwen’s framework of persuasive strategies, this conceptual review paper aims to improve understanding of the various categories of legitimation, related to authority, moral evaluation, rationality, and story logic. Each category is examined with a view to how it may support (or oppose) the reordering of protein sources necessary for a diet shift. Key strategies are a further revision of the existing authority-based dietary guidelines, using the diversity of rationality-based legitimations to support them, avoiding polarization of moral-based ideologies and being cautious of myths, micro-myths and stories.

This paper explores how the transition to a low-carbon society to mitigate climate change can be better supported by a diet change. As climate mitigation is not the focal goal of consumers who are buying or consuming food, the study highlighted the role of motivational and cognitive background factors, including possible spillover effects. Consumer samples in the Netherlands (n = 527) and the United States (n = 556) were asked to evaluate food-related and energy-related mitigation options in a design that included three food-related options with very different mitigation potentials (i.e. eating less meat, buying local and seasonal food, and buying organic food). They rated each option's effectiveness and their willingness to adopt it. The outstanding effectiveness of the less meat option (as established by climate experts) was recognized by merely 12% of the Dutch and 6% of the American sample. Many more participants gave fairly positive effectiveness ratings and this was correlated with belief in human causation of climate change, personal importance of climate change, and being a moderate meat eater. Willingness to adopt the less meat option increased with its perceived effectiveness and, controlling for that, it was significantly related to various motivationally relevant factors. The local food option appealed to consumer segments with overlapping but partly different motivational orientations. It was concluded that a transition to a low carbon society can significantly benefit from a special focus on the food-related options to involve more consumers and to improve mitigation.

Food has become a central focus for the achievement of sustainability objectives. One of the current challenges is that promoting food sustainability requires much more attention to cultural and social contexts and the food philosophies of specific groups of consumers. The present paper focuses on those consumers in the Netherlands who intrinsically appreciate the taste and the quality of food (hereafter “gourmets”). Our expectation was that, due to their respect for the origin of food and their distance from mainstream food culture, the gourmets may be able to reveal practices and cultural assumptions that help to find entry points for promoting more sustainable food choices among the general population. Drawing on literature about gastronomy, Slow Food and craft consumption, fifteen in-depth interviews were held to examine the food philosophies of individual gourmets from a health and sustainability perspective. The results demonstrated how the values of pleasure of taste, food competences and social relatedness may contribute to the extent of complementarity between culinary and ethical principles. Entry points for promoting change in a more sustainable direction include a shift from quantity to quality, such as meals with less but better meat, a shift towards making meals less focused on meat and a general open-mindedness towards other eating styles (a new look at vegetables), a shift to planning for a competent use of leftovers and a shift in willingness to accept limitations on food choices, such as the seasonal unavailability of food.

This paper develops a new perspective on the relevance of different food orientations for healthier and more sustainable diets. Consumers’ food orientations vary in the relative importance of sensory- and reward-related factors (hereafter called Reward) or beliefs and values that are causes for reflection on broader themes (hereafter called Reflection). To examine competing and complementary relationships of Reward and Reflection, an existing data set from the Netherlands was used. The graphical and statistical analyses of different consumer segments indicated that giving a relatively low importance to both Reward and Reflection (“routine taste”) is not favorable for healthier and more sustainable diets, that giving importance to Reward but not Reflection (“hedonic taste”) is not any better, but that giving a relatively high importance to both Reward and Reflection (“reflective taste”) can be a favorable, complementary combination. The relative importance of Reward and Reflection was also related to reported sources of meal inspiration, which showed the prominence of habits and point-of-sale information, on the one hand, and recipe-based inspiration, requiring product knowledge, meal planning and cooking skills, on the other hand. These findings are highly relevant for the development of diet change strategies.

The current ratio between plant and animal protein in the Western diet is causing serious threats to both public health and the environment. Healthy, pro-environmental protein consumption requires a transition to a diet with more plant protein and considerably less animal protein. The present paper focuses on the prospects of this transition by analyzing consumer responses to some key options in the context of regional differences across Europe. The aim is to assess how responses to the options might be shaped by 1) cultural, culinary and economic spatial gradients (including GDP per capita) at regional level and 2) differences in environmental friendly behavior and gender at individual level. The study, covering all EU members in 2012, compares regional level statistics (food supply data) with individual level statistics (consumer survey data) and vice-versa. The south-north latitude gradient showed a decreasing trend in vegetable and pulse protein supplies and, in parallel, a decreasing trend in positive consumer responses to the key options, probably due to differences in meal experiences. The west-east longitude gradient showed decreasing levels of animal protein supplies and GDP per capita. Individuals’ willingness to do something positive for the environment and their gender played a weak but consistent role in the responses. To effectively stimulate diet changes, it is important to seek ways in which culinary and environmental aspects can complement each other and to ensure that diet changes do not depend solely on individual decisions but become an integral part of regional social processes.

This article examines the extent and manner to which evaluations of flood-related precautions are affected by an individual's motivation and perception of context. It argues that the relationship between risk perception and flood risk preparedness can be fruitfully specified in terms of vulnerability and efficacy if these concepts are put into the perspective of prevention-focused motivation. This relationship was empirically examined in a risk communication experiment in a delta area of the Netherlands (n = 1,887). Prevention-focused motivation was induced by contextualized risk information. The results showed that prevention-focused individuals were more sensitive to the relevance of potential precautions for satisfying their needs in the context they found themselves in. The needs included, but were not limited to, fear reduction. Due to the heterogeneity of the residents, the evaluations reflected individual differences in the intensity and the selectivity of precautionary processes. Four types of persons could be distinguished according to their evaluation of precautionary measures: a high-scoring minority, two more selective types, and a low-scoring minority. For policymakers and risk communicators it is vital to consider the nature of prevention motivation and the context in which it is likely to be high.

This paper adds to the food, health and sustainability literature by examining the content, merits, and limitations of a frame-based approach to assist consumers on the path to a healthy and sustainable diet, focusing on reducing conventional meat consumption. The paper combined literature on frames with literature on meat consumption. It showed that meat eating was connected to the frames that guide consumer choices through sensory-based associations (savory, satisfying) and conceptual interpretations of meals and social situations. It also showed that the science-based health and sustainability arguments in favor of a diet change do not sufficiently reach consumers or are too difficult for them to comprehend. To reach consumers, therefore, it is crucial to develop bridging frames that work as push factors away from routine meat eating, or pull factors that encourage the consumption of primarily plant-based protein and special meat types. These frames (recipes, point-of-sale information) should build on the familiar culinary principles of variety, balance, and moderation, offer a moderate amount of novelty, and enable consumers to make positive sensory associations and coherent interpretations of healthy and sustainable protein dishes. A potential limitation of a frame-based approach is that it requires much attention to detail and context.

This study provides insight into differences and similarities in the mindset and motivation of four dietary groups (young self-declared vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters) to support the development of strategies for a general transition to a less meat-based diet. The paper highlights the value of the identity concept for our understanding of both vegetarians and meat eaters. The analysis involves a comparison of the four dietary groups focusing on the strength and the profile of their food-related motivation and their reasons for and against frequent meat eating. To check for the generalizability of the results, the analyses were performed in two samples of adults (aged 18–35) in the Netherlands (native Dutch, n = 357, and second generation Chinese Dutch, n = 350). In both samples, the vegetarians had the same level of food-related motivation as the other groups, but a different motivational profile and distinctive, taste- and animal-welfare related reasons to justify their abstinence from eating meat. The low and medium meat-eaters often considered health a reason to eat meat as well as to moderate meat eating, plus they liked to vary their meals. In these aspects they were different from both the vegetarians and the high meat-eaters. The findings are relevant for (non) governmental organizations that aim to influence dietary choices, as well as for businesses that operate in the market of meat substitutes.

Food production, especially meat, is one of the main pressures on the environment and experts agree that diets have to change into a more sustainable direction. The present paper examines whether Self-Determination Theory (SDT) can be of help in fostering more sustainable food choices by taking a closer look at the relationship between food-related types of motivation and different aspects of meat consumption, based on a survey among 1083 consumers in the Netherlands. SDT appeared to be useful for studying why consumers can be motivated to make more sustainable food choices and also why these preferences are not shared by all consumers. Consumers with different types of motivation differed in their level of meat consumption (frequency and portion size), reasons for not frequently eating meat, frequency of buying carefully produced meat, frequency of buying meat substitutes, and preferences in favor or not of plant-based protein products. Internalized motivation was the main factor that made a difference, but intrinsic enjoyment of cooking and eating also played a role. The conclusion is that SDT provides both theoretical and policy-oriented insights into fostering more sustainable food choices. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Adapting Western meat consumption to health and sustainability challenges requires an overall reduction of industrially produced animal proteins plus a partial replacement by plant proteins. Combining insights on food, environment, and consumers, this paper aims to explore change strategies that may help to meet these challenges, such as promoting smaller portions of meat ("less"), smaller portions using meat raised in a more sustainable manner ("less but better"), smaller portions and eating more vegetable protein ("less and more varied"), and meatless meals with or without meat substitutes ("veggie-days"). The underlying logic of the strategies was clarified by analyzing dietary choices. A nationwide sample of 1083 Dutch consumers provided information on current eating practices and potential changes. The results show that strategies to change meat eating frequencies and meat portion sizes will appeal to overlapping but partly different segments of consumers and that these strategies can be applied to address consumers in terms of their own preferences. The strategies appeared to have different strengths and weaknesses, making them complementary pathways to facilitate step-by-step changes in the amounts and the sources of protein consumed. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

This article proposes an approach to flood risk communication that gives particular emphasis to the distinction between prevention and promotion motivation. According to E. Tory Higgins, the promotion system and the prevention system are assumed to coexist in every person, but one or the other may be temporarily or chronically more accessible. These insights have far-reaching implications for our understanding of people's reasoning about risks. Flood risk communication framed in terms of prevention involves the notions of chance and harm, woven into a story about particular events that necessitate decisions to be more careful about safety issues and protect one's family and oneself from danger. The article describes how the insights worked out in practice, using a flood risk communication experiment among a sample from the general population in a highly populated river delta of the Netherlands. It had a posttest-only control group design (n = 2,302). The results showed that risk communication had a large effect on the participants' responses and that this effect was higher among chronic prevention-focused people than among others. Any information that increased the fit between a prevention-framed message and a person's chronic prevention motivation produced stronger situationally induced, prevention-focused responses. This may significantly improve communication about risks. In contrast, the notion of water city projects, featuring waterside living, had more appeal to promotion-focused people. Language: en

The recently developed Food Choice Motives (FCMs) questionnaire was used in a survey among a sample from the general population in the Netherlands (n= 1083) to examine the relationship between motivational differences in food orientation and the choice of snacks made from environmentally-friendly proteins (i.e. lentils, locusts, seaweed or " hybrid" meat). The results show that there is room for a change to a diet with more environmentally friendly proteins, with the exception of insects. As hypothesized, there were important differences between consumers depending on the level and direction of involvement with food. The study identified potential " trendsetters" who appreciated authentic sources of proteins, such as lentils and seaweed, but who were less likely to choose a product that is not pure but hybrid. A hybrid meat product may be acceptable to lowly involved consumers but they will not actively search for more environmentally friendly proteins. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

The shift towards a more sustainable diet necessitates less reliance on foods of animal origin. This study presents data from a representative survey of Dutch consumers on their practices related to meat, meat substitution and meat reduction. The practices reflected a cultural gradient of meat substitution options running from other products of animal origin and conventional meat free meals to real vegetarian meals. To investigate feasible substitution options, a variety of meals without meat were presented using photos, which were rated by the participants in terms of attractiveness and chances that they would prepare a similar meal at home. The results demonstrated the influence of meal formats, product familiarity, cooking skills, preferences for plant-based foods and motivational orientations towards food. In particular, a lack of familiarity and skill hampered the preparation of real vegetarian meals. Based on the findings we propose a diversified understanding of meat substitution and we specify four policy-relevant pathways for a transition towards a more plant-based diet, including an incremental change towards more health-conscious vegetarian meals, a pathway that utilizes the trend towards convenience, a pathway of reduced portion size, and practice-oriented change towards vegetarian meals. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

New applications of genomics techniques in soil ecology may provide people with fresh insights into the richness of microbial life forms and natural methods to build on the "self-cleaning capacity" of soils. Because genetic modification might also be involved, this paper examines people's judgments about some applications, using a theory on the promotion- or prevention-orientations that they may associate with interventions in the natural world. A prevention-oriented way of thinking was hypothesized to correspond with a preference for more restrictions on a GM application, unless the person appreciates the application's benefits for nature restoration. Survey data agreed with the hypotheses and clarified the way in which people may talk about "nature knows best" or "nature needs a little help." © The Author(s), 2010.

This paper aims to improve our understanding of food choices that are more sustainable in terms of moral and health aspects of eating. The aim of sustainability may require that people in Western countries choose to eat smaller quantities of meat as well as types of meat that are produced in a more responsible way. Focusing on mediators of the relationship between broad universalistic values and meat choices, we examined how involvement in food can be separated into promotion-oriented and prevention-oriented motivational goals. In a survey among 1530 Dutch consumers we found that most of the basic human values were to a certain extent related to the direction of the food choice motives. However, giving priority to universalism appeared to be unique in its impact on food choices favouring less meat or free-range meat. This impact was weak but robust and it was mediated by prevention-oriented food choice motives together with a high level of involvement in food and motive-congruent animal friendly attitudes. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This study uses the consumer affinity concept to examine the multiple motives that may shape consumers' relationships with food. The concept was applied in a study on four broad product types in the Netherlands, which cover a wide range of the market and may each appeal to consumers with different affinities towards foods. These product types may be denoted as 'conventional', 'efficient', 'gourmet' and 'pure'. A comparative analysis, based on Higgins' Regulatory Focus Theory, was performed to examine whether food-related value motivations could explain different consumer affinities for these product types. The affinities of consumers were measured by means of a non-verbal, visual presentation of four samples of food products in a nationwide survey (n = 742) among consumers who were all involved in food purchasing and/or cooking. The affinities found could be predicted fairly well from a number of self-descriptions relating to food and eating, which expressed different combinations of type of value motivation and involvement with food. The analysis demonstrated the contrasting role of high and low involvement as well as the potential complementarity of promotion- and prevention-focused value motivation. It is suggested that knowledge of the relationships between product types, consumer affinities and value motivation can help improve the effectiveness of interventions that seek to promote healthy and sustainable diets in developed countries.

This article examines the extent and manner to which evaluations of flood-related precautions are affected by an individual's motivation and perception of context. It argues that the relationship between risk perception and flood risk preparedness can be fruitfully specified in terms of vulnerability and efficacy if these concepts are put into the perspective of prevention-focused motivation. This relationship was empirically examined in a risk communication experiment in a delta area of the Netherlands (n = 1,887). Prevention-focused motivation was induced by contextualized risk information. The results showed that prevention-focused individuals were more sensitive to the relevance of potential precautions for satisfying their needs in the context they found themselves in. The needs included, but were not limited to, fear reduction. Due to the heterogeneity of the residents, the evaluations reflected individual differences in the intensity and the selectivity of precautionary processes. Four types of persons could be distinguished according to their evaluation of precautionary measures: a high-scoring minority, two more selective types, and a low-scoring minority. For policymakers and risk communicators it is vital to consider the nature of prevention motivation and the context in which it is likely to be high.

In search of viable ways to create more sustainable diets, it is extremely valuable to analyse how people in various countries are supplied with dietary proteins from plant-based and animal-based sources. As a cross-national comparison of food ingredients may easily lead to misleading interpretations, it is crucial to opt for a multidisciplinary approach and to focus on countries that are spread across a bounded geographical area. In the present paper, an overview of diet proteins in the EU-15 member states is presented. As it turns out, the diets are rather diverse but everywhere the same major sources can be distinguished, i.e., meat, cereals and milk. The analysis showed a strong influence of location on protein diets. There are significant differences between, on the one hand, countries with high supplies of protein provided by vegetables and cereals, and, on the other hand, countries with high supplies of protein derived from milk. In this respect, Portugal, Italy and Greece can be contrasted with The Netherlands, Sweden and Finland as the two poles of an axis, with intermediate positions for the other countries. A number of interrelated differences between these countries clearly demonstrated the impacts of ecological, economic and cultural factors on current dietary protein supply. Although it does not make sense to plea simply in favour of turning the clock back, we draw the conclusion that there is room for a diet that is less dependent on meat proteins without going beyond the limits set by nutrition and health. Our results suggest that the East Mediterranean diet of the early 1960s has interesting qualities for the development of options to create more sustainable, healthful diets. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The concept of sustainability in general and food sustainability, in particular, entails many aspects and many interpretations. During a conference on food sustainability a broad, multidisciplinary picture was painted and many key issues were dealt with, from ecology, economy and society. In sessions on food security – the focus in developing countries – and food safety – primarily a preoccupation in developed countries – many potential trade-offs and opportunities for regional approaches were identified. The session on governance, therefore, focused on the interaction between multi-level actors, including national governments, international organisations such as WTO, the food industry and consumers. Finally, transparency was identified as one of the main issues underlying good governance. In order to improve the sustainability of food production, therefore, it was considered of the utmost importance that food multinationals transfer some form of democratic control over their global environmental policies, as part of an overall multi-level (public-private) governance ideal. © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

This study generates insight into how environmental attitudes and sustainable lifestyles relate to worldviews. First, environmental attitudes are contextualized cultural-historically (using Charles Taylor's work) and psychologically (using self-determination theory, SDT). Then, a questionnaire exploring worldviews, environmental attitudes, and sustainable lifestyles was conducted (n= 1043) in the Netherlands. Component analyses resulted in five worldview-factors (Inner growth, Contemporary spirituality, Traditional God, Focus on money, Secular materialism) and three environmental attitudes (Connectedness with nature, Willingness to change, Instrumentalism). The results show that Inner growth and Contemporary spirituality relate to Connectedness with nature and Willingness to change (and more sustainable lifestyles), while Focus on money and Secular materialism relate to Instrumentalism (and less sustainable lifestyles). In line with STD, the results suggest that intrinsically oriented worldviews correlate positively with pro-environmental attitudes and lifestyles, while extrinsically oriented worldviews correlate negatively. In line with Taylor, the results indicate a more traditional, modern, and postmodern worldview in the Netherlands. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Scenarios have become a powerful tool in integrated assessment and policy analysis for climate change. Socio-economic and climate scenarios are often combined to assess climate change impacts and vulnerabilities across different sectors and to inform risk management strategies. Such combinations of scenarios can also play an important role in enabling the interaction between experts and other stakeholders, framing issues and providing a means for making explicit and dealing with uncertainties. Drawing on experience with the application of scenarios to climate change assessments in recent Dutch research, the paper argues that scenario approaches need to be matched to the frames of stakeholders who are situated in specific decision contexts. Differentiated approaches (top-down, bottom-up and interactive) are needed to address the different frames and decision-making contexts of stakeholders. A framework is proposed to map scenarios and decision contexts onto two dimensions: the spatial scale of the context and the starting point of approach used in scenario development (top-down, bottom-up or incident-driven). Future climate and socio-economic scenario development will be shaped by the need to become better aligned with multiple interacting uncertainties salient to stakeholders. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Specification of information needs is an important step in the design of monitoring networks. Within the framework of Monitoring Strategy 2000+, a programme of the Dutch Directorate General of Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) which seeks to provide innovation in the monitoring sector, a method has been developed to link water management policy to monitoring through specification of information needs. Over the past 2 years, this method has been applied in several projects within the Rijkswaterstaat organisation. Use of this method has led to improvements in the monitoring practice and was judged very positively by the people involved. Nevertheless, the main obstacle to employing the method was the actual translation of policy matters into information products. A special study is carried out, focusing on this aspect within the method, to provide the participants of a project with a mental framework that enables them to clearly specify their information needs. The major requirements for this mental framework are that all participants have a clear view of the process (system), and that they are able to relate their contribution to this process and to the contributions of others (transparency). The first step of the process is to focus the attention of stakeholders on the information they will actually need for decision-making. The next step is to confront the different expressed opinions through the method of the 'devil's advocate', which implies criticising the results of the first step by finding as many as possible arguments against these opinions. This should force the stakeholders to better specify their arguments. The method, its improvements and the results of one pilot project will be discussed in this paper.

Food consumption has been identified as a realm of key importance for progressing the world towards more sustainable consumption overall. Consumers have the option to choose organic food as a visible product of more ecologically integrated farming methods and, in general, more carefully produced food. This study aims to investigate the choice for organic from a cultural-historical perspective and aims to reveal the food philosophy of current organic consumers in The Netherlands. A concise history of the organic food movement is provided going back to the German Lebensreform and the American Natural Foods Movement. We discuss themes such as the wish to return to a more natural lifestyle, distancing from materialistic lifestyles, and reverting to a more meaningful moral life. Based on a number of in-depth interviews, the study illustrates that these themes are still of influence among current organic consumers who additionally raised the importance of connectedness to nature, awareness, and purity. We argue that their values are shared by a much larger part of Dutch society than those currently shopping for organic food. Strengthening these cultural values in the context of more sustainable food choices may help to expand the amount of organic consumers and hereby aid a transition towards more sustainable consumption. © 2012 The Author(s).

The decision of many individuals in floodplains to not purchase flood insurance may impair the risk-spreading function of flood insurance markets. This study estimates the effectiveness of risk communication frames and insurance policy conditions in increasing demand for flood insurance. It is examined how communication interacts with individual frames about the flood hazard that are rooted in regulatory focus theory. A choice experiment elicits willingness-to-pay (WTP) for annual and multi-year flood insurance, using of a survey of a representative sample of 1250 households. The statistical method is a mixed logit model that accounts for heteroskedasticity arising from stated choice certainty. The communication frames considerably increase WTP compared with a control group. This effect of communication is positively related to an individual's degree of prevention motivation. Moreover, we find that demand for flood insurance can be increased by introducing multi-year policies, as long as the contract duration is not too long. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

This paper addresses the relationship between meat eating and climate change focusing on motivational explanations of environmentally-relevant consumer behavior. Based on a sample of 1083 Dutch consumers, it examines their responses to the idea that they can make a big difference to nature and climate protection by choosing one or more meals without meat every week. This idea can be seen as a new opportunity to help mitigation, but also as a counterproductive message that might trigger negative responses among consumers who are skeptical about climate change. As hypothesized, the meat-free meal idea was received more positively by consumers who valued care for nature and more negatively by those who did not value it. Also as hypothesized, the meat-free meal idea was received more negatively by consumers who were skeptical about the seriousness of climate change. The idea was not received more positively by those who did take it seriously. The results support the notion that the meat-free meal idea may serve as a counterproductive message. From the perspective of motivation, it is preferable not to isolate the meat-climate issue but to develop an approach that combines multiple values regarding food choices, including health and nature-related values. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

This paper describes the development of an integrated environmental index that may serve as a representation of the general environmental quality at a certain location. This index is meant to be used by local administrators to strike a balance between the development of industrial activities and the protection of sensitive land-uses (housing). The approach used to arrive at this index, based on health considerations, is described, detailing the different steps in the construction of the index: identification, assessment, summation, valuation and aggregation. The index combines environmental quality information concerning noise, odor, air pollution, and risk of industrial calamities. The resulting integrated environmental index is illustrated using data of a pilot project.

Implementation of article 8.1 of the EC-“Seveso” Directive (82/501/EC) is now under way in many countries in Europe. In The Netherlands, the implementation of the Directive started with a carefully monitored introduction of active information provision at two sites (Dordrecht and Elst). This introduction was supported by a multidisciplinary research group. This group helped to develop the risk communication program and also played a role in the evaluation of the program. This paper describes these processes and their evaluation. We will focus on the design of the risk communication programs and the effects of the programs on knowledge and attitudes of the local target groups. This effort and its results clearly started an institutional learning process involving governmental bodies at several organizational levels (local, regional, and national), and industrial organizations (individual firms and organizations of industries). Monitoring the design, the implementation, and the effects of active information provision proves an effective means to gain experience with the implementation of the Seveso Directive and could help to facilitate further implementation.

This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of protein production for the global environment and to give insight into the way consumers frame the protein part of their meal. Using a macro perspective, it presents a review of the literature on current and future impacts of the nutritional transition that has made animals the chief source of protein in many countries. Protein-related environmental pressure is put into the perspective of a number of vital Earth-system processes whose boundaries have already been overstepped or are under threat of transgression. To inform policy-makers about these linkages a long-term global food security frame is proposed. Using a micro perspective, survey data on consumers reveal that their frames and habits are strongly adapted to the current meat system. Although this system has induced some pickiness about meat as well as uneasiness about meat's animal origin, there is a large psychological distance between consumers and experts in their view of protein sources. It is suggested that a global food security frame may help to bridge this distance by creating overlapping frames, capturing both altruistic aspects and a reasonable measure of self-interest. This may enable a novel protein transition, featuring a greater share of plant-based protein. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

This is the second of two chapters on the question whether a diet shift is socially desirable. Whereas the preceding one took a behavioural perspective, the present chapter is oriented towards processes at the level of markets and institutions. In terms of Chapter 1, it should be repeated that there is a difference between factors that contribute to the opening of a “window of opportunity” and factors that increase the chances that the open window will be used in a particular way. The latter refers especially to the competition between old and new technologies. From the field of evolutionary economics it is known that the successful introduction of alternatives to an old technology will depend on the characteristics of the “selection environment” (Glynn, 2002) – a concept that does not just include market forces, but also institutional arrangements, such as procedures to get authorisation for novel foods. Therefore, the main theme of this chapter is how a diet shift may “fit” into the food-related political and economic developments of the next decades. The actors who are making selection decisions can be divided into two main categories. The first category refers to the “proximate decision makers” (Lindblom, 2001) in industry and government who take the economic and political decisions that play a major role in the marketplace. The second category refers to all the members of society who participate in the market

shift “fits” into existing behavioural patterns is an important argument for its desirability. The same applies even more strongly to its future fit into the behavioural patterns of the next decades. Alternatively, whether a lack of fit will create an insurmountable problem depends on the feasibility of the measures that can be taken to mitigate the main shortcomings of the options. What conditions make it attractive for producers and consumers to select NPFs instead of meat protein foods? From the perspective of producers, the answer may seem simple. The reasons for a producer to launch a new food product may be quite diverse, but they can always be translated into traditional business criteria, aimed at short-term and long-term profits. Given the consumer-oriented food market of today (Warde, 1997), it can simply be argued that the decisions of consumers will determine whether the introduction of a new food product will become a success or a failure. However, this statement is far too strong. Notably, producers are able to shape the food choices of consumers step by step in a certain direction (e.g. the direction of processed foods). Also, it is up to producers to develop new products and to decide whether they are ripe for the market. In sum, their role should not be neglected. This chapter will focus on the factors that influence food choices of consumers. The analysis includes both short-term and long-term influences and it will pay due attention to the many linkages between the activities of 1

We tested how consumers recognize, understand and value on-package information about food production methods that may contribute to a more sustainable agriculture. Nine copy tests were formed, each containing one out of three products and one out of three panels of information. The products were (1) fillet of chicken, (2) semi-skimmed milk and (3) fillet of salmon. The panels of information were (a) a certified organic logo and details about the animal welfare standards of organic products, (b) just the logo, or (c) a statement in which the product was attributed to the world market. About 371 customers of a supermarket in the city of Amsterdam filled in a questionnaire, which included a subset of three copy tests. The results showed that many consumers did not realize that the organic logo already covers all the standards. They were inclined to underestimate the distinctive advantage of the logo; products with logo and details got higher ratings of positive attributes but were also considered more expensive. As a consequence, the detailed information panels enabled consumers to choose more in agreement with their personal values but the net impacts on purchase intentions were small. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.