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Ruokapalvelut voivat pienentää ilmastovaikutuksiaan lisäämällä kasvisruokien osuutta tarjotuista aterioista. Joukkoruokailun muuttuminen kasvisvoittoisemmaksi edellyttää ruokien kulttuuristen merkitysten muuttumista ja kasvisruoan erityisruokavalio- ja kevytlounasmerkityksen purkautumista. Hankkeessamme kehitettiin 30 vegaanista, pienen ilmastovaikutuksen pääruokareseptiä ruokapalveluiden käyttöön. Osana reseptien testausta toteutimme asiakaskyselyn yhdeksässä lounasravintolassa, joihin sisältyivät viisi peruskoulun ja toisen asteen oppilaitoksen ravintolaa, kaksi opiskelijaravintolaa, henkilöstöravintola ja sairaalan ravintola. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelemme, millaisia merkityksiä ruokapalveluiden asiakkaat liittävät kasvis- ja liharuokiin sekä millaisia tunnesitoumuksia ja normatiivisia käsityksiä niihin kytkeytyy. Argumentoimme Sara Ahmedin (2014) affektiivista normeihin investointia analysoivan lähestymistavan avulla, että on oleellista nähdä ruokakysymys yksilöllisten valintojen tai kognitiivisten prosessien sijaan kysymyksenä yhteiskunnallisista ja kulttuurisista normeista, joihin investoidutaan affektiivisesti ja toiston avulla. Artikkelimme avaa sekä moniaistillista, muistojen ja tottumusten vahvistamaa affektiivista liharuokiin kiinnittymistä ja siten syitä ruokavaliomuutoksen haastavuuteen, että kasvisruoan uusien merkitysten muotoutumispotentiaalia lounasruokailussa. Affektiivisiin investointeihin liittyvän sukupuolittuneisuuden lisäksi nostamme ilmastokestävyydestä käytävään keskusteluun ruokaan liittyvän nationalismin, kulttuurisen omimisen ja eksotisoinnin. Tarjotessaan aterian noin kolmasosalle väestöstä päivittäin ruokapalveluilla on merkittävä potentiaali ruokaan liittyvien normien uudelleenmuotoutumisessa sekä ilmastokestävän ruokakulttuurin edistämisessä. Ruokapalvelujen mahdollisuuksiin tarjota täyttäviä, proteiinipitoisia ja maukkaita kasvispohjaisia ruokia tulisikin keskittää resursseja. Food services can reduce their climate impact by increasing the share of plant-based food in meals served. Transitioning to increased plant-based eating in large catering settings requires a change in the cultural meanings attached to food. Our project developed 30 vegan, low impact main course recipes for food services. As part of testing the recipes, we conducted a customer survey at nine lunch restaurants. In this article, we examine the meanings that food service customers assign to vegan and meat lunches. Using Sara Ahmed’s (2014) approach to affective investments, we argue that it is essential to see this food issue as a question of social and cultural norms invested affectively and through repetition. Our article suggests that individuals have an affective attachment to meat, which is defined by habit and multisensory processes, thereby resulting in normative, yet unsustainable, meat-centric eating practices. However, our article also demonstrates the formation of new meanings of vegan foods where, for instance, experimenting with plant-based eating creates potential for a dietary change. In addition to the gendered nature of affective investments, we touch upon food-related nationalism, cultural appropriation, and exoticization in the debate on climate-sustainable food cultures.

Dissociating meat from its animal origins has been considered a central strategy omnivores employ to sustain their meat consumption despite their concerns for animal welfare. In recent years, the d...

During the past few decades, the global food system has confronted new sustainability challenges related not only to public health and the environment but also to ethical concerns over the treatment of farmed animals. However, the traditional threedimensional framework of sustainable development is ill equipped to take ethical concerns related to non-human animals into account. For instance, the interests of farmed animals are often overridden by objectives associated with social, economic or environmental sustainability, despite their vast numbers and influence on contemporary societies. Moreover, sustainability policies necessarily involve an element of ethical evaluation; yet this element is not explicitly incorporated in prevailing frameworks of sustainable development. Our purpose in this article is to address these shortcomings by developing a Sustainability Matrix that recognizes the need to consider food system sustainability from the perspective of all interest groups affected by the issue under consideration, from a plurality of ethical standpoints. Combing sustainability principles with the basic idea of an ethical evaluation tool, the proposed Sustainability Matrix evaluates the sustainability of food-related systems, decisions and policies from the perspectives of three major strands of ethical theory and from the perspectives of human beings, farmed animals and wildlife. In terms of policy implications, the Sustainability Matrix can be applied in deciding on the specific targets of food system sustainability that can then be utilized as a basis for designing policies and measures towards the achievement of these goals.

Citizen attitudes and opinions form an important driving force for improvements in the ethical status of farm animals in society. Hence, it is important to understand how attitudes to farm animals vary in society and what factors, mechanisms and social processes influence the development of these attitudes. In this study we examine the relative importance of socio-demographic background, animal related experiences and social-equality attitudes in the formation of attitudes to farm animals in Finland. The research is based on a nationwide survey (n = 1890). Our research findings suggest that female gender, young age, urban residency, a non-farming background and social-equality attitudes are linked to greater concern for farm animals. A farming background, valuing social equality, and gender have the strongest connections to farm animal attitudes, followed by age and place of residence. Having a companion animal and education level have a relatively modest connection to attitudes to farm animals. In order to accumulate comparative evidence of social-group differences in attitudes to farm animals, further research should continue to develop improved indicators for attitudes to farm animal welfare and rights. Moreover, explanations for social-group differences in citizen attitudes to farm animals should be subjected to further empirical testing.

This paper explores citizens’ views about the welfare of farmed fish and the mental abilities of fish with a large survey data sample from Finland (n = 1,890). Although studies on attitudes towards animal welfare have been increasing, fish welfare has received only limited empirical attention, despite the rapid expansion of aquaculture sector. The results show that the welfare of farmed fish is not any great concern in the Finnish society. The analysis confirms the distinct character given to farmed fish compared to traditional farmed animals. Salmon are rated low in their mental abilities, including the capacity to feel pain, which may weaken ethical concerns for fish welfare. When analyzing the social determinants surrounding the rating of the welfare of farmed fish, it was shown that fish welfare attitudes follow general animal welfare attitudes regarding age and place of residence as fish welfare tends to be rated more negatively among younger age groups and among urban residents. However, no clear connection could be identified between gender and the rating of fish welfare, which may suggest that the distinct cultural categorization of fish diminishes the typical gender difference identified in animal attitudes. It is concluded that in order to improve awareness about fish welfare, there is a need to increase dissemination of scientific knowledge about fish and their welfare. Moreover, further research should be directed toward studying the moral positioning of fish and the distinct moral categorization they receive.

Trust in animal farming is a complex phenomenon and it is expressed in heterogeneous ways in different cultural contexts. Nordic countries are typically known as high-trust societies in terms of food issues. Based on group interviews among Finnish consumers, this paper explores how citizen–consumers express trust and distrust regarding animal farming practices and whether it is possible to identify different forms of trust among different consumer groups. The foundations of emotional trust in animal farming have been weakening due to urbanization and the structural change in agriculture. Ordinary shoppers responded to this situation by transferring responsibility for farm animal welfare to public authorities, relying on habitual policy-generated trust in animal farming. In contrast, gastronomes and organic consumers actively cultivated their emotional trust in livestock production by creating new kinds of contacts to farming. Gastronomes, organic consumers and vegetarians especially acknowledged the complexity of the claims made in farm animal welfare politics. As trust in food has arguably become a subject of active negotiation in Finland, the foundations for the habit-based policy-generated trust may be partly weakening, creating more space for the politicizing of food issues and the developing of alternative sources for regaining trust in food production.

Mental capacities are an essential basis on which people give moral concern to nonhuman animals. Hence, it is important to investigate public perceptions of animal mind and the factors underlying these perceptions. Although research into citizen beliefs in animal mind has been increasing, population-based studies utilizing multivariate methods have been scarce. In this article, public perceptions of animal mind are investigated with a nationwide survey in Finland (n= 1,824). Eight animal species positioned differently in cultural categorizations are included in the analysis. Dogs were ascribed the most capacities, followed by cows, pigs, wolves, and elk. Citizens expressed a low belief in the mental capacities of chicken, salmon, and shrimp. Classifying animals as companions, food, and threat influences the perceptions of animal mind. Young age, having a companion animal, valuing societal equality, and concern for animal welfare and for animal utilization are connected to a greater belief in animal mind.