Why do local plant proteins not take off? Sustainability rationalities in public catering
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Published
Apr 30, 2023
Teea Kortetmäki
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1682-8462
Abstract
This study examines the potential of local plant proteins in promoting sustainable dietary transition in public catering and, simultaneously, helping rural regions find sustainable livelihoods in the future. Environmental and health reasons call for a transition to more plant-based diets in Western countries. This poses a livelihood challenge for many rural/semi-rural regions that are currently livestock-dominated. Local plant protein crops could be a ‘win-win’ solution, both for promoting dietary transition and for supporting local rural economies – presently two conflicting objectives in regions where animal production prevails. This study is based on a development project in which local public catering actors undertook to increase the use of local plant proteins. It analyses public actors’ rationalities that explain actions and inactions for sustainability transition and the positioning of plant proteins therein. Results demonstrate how the dominant catering rationalities, and mismatches between regime and niche actor rationalities, hinder the mainstreaming of local plant proteins. The discussion reflects upon ways to overcome these barriers.
How to Cite
Kortetmäki, T. (2023) “Why do local plant proteins not take off? : Sustainability rationalities in public catering”, The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food. Paris, France, 29(1), pp. 25–43. doi: 10.48416/ijsaf.v29i1.487.
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Keywords
sustainability transitions, local food, dietary transition, plant proteins, public catering
References
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Austgulen M, Skuland S, Schjøll A and Alfnes F (2018) Consumer readiness to reduce meat consumption for the purpose of environmental sustainability: insights from Norway. Sustainability 10(9): 3058.
Autio M, Collins R, Wahlen S and Anttila M (2013) Consuming nostalgia? The appreciation of authenticity in local food production. International Journal of Consumer Studies 37(5): 564–568.
Balázs B, Kelemen E and Szakál D (2021) Transitions of Legume-based Agrifood Systems-Stakeholders' view from Hungary. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 27(1): 119–140.
Colombo PE, Patterson E, Lindroos AK, Parlesak A and Schäfer Elinder L (2020) Sustainable and acceptable school meals through optimization analysis: an intervention study. Nutrition Journal 19(61): 1–15.
De Boer J and Aiking H (2019) Strategies towards healthy and sustainable protein consumption: A transition framework at the levels of diets, dishes, and dish ingredients. Food Quality and Preference 73: 171–181.
Finnish Food and Drink Industries Federation (2022) Forkful of facts. Available at: https://www.etl.fi/en/statistics.html (accessed 21 January 2023).
Florén B, Amani P and Davis J (2017) Climate database facilitating climate smart meal planning for the public sector in Sweden. International Journal on Food System Dynamics 8(1): 72–80.
Fuenfschilling L and Truffer B (2014) The structuration of socio-technical regimes—Conceptual foundations from institutional theory. Research policy 43(4): 772–791.
Geels FW (2014) Regime resistance against low-carbon transitions: introducing politics and power into the multi-level perspective. Theory, culture and society 31(5): 21–40.
Geels FW and Schot J (2007) Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Research policy 36(3): 399–417.
Giusti AM, Bignetti E and Cannella C (2008) Exploring new frontiers in total food quality definition and assessment: from chemical to neurohemical properties. Food and Bioprocess Technology 1(2): 130–142.
Gottlieb R and Joshi A (2013) Food justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Grivins M, Tisenkopfs T, Tikka V and Silvasti T (2018) Manoeuvring between regulations to achieve locally accepted results: Analysis of school meals in Latvia and Finland. Food Security 10(6): 1389–1400.
Guest G, MacQueen KM and Namey E (2014) Applied thematic analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Ingram J, Maye D, Kirwan J, Curry N and Kubinakova K (2015) Interactions between niche and regime: an analysis of learning and innovation networks for sustainable agriculture across Europe. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension 21(1): 55–71.
Kalberg S (1980) Max Weber’s types of rationality: cornerstones for the analysis of rationalization processes in history. The American Journal of Sociology 85(5): 1145–1179.
Kalberg S (2011) Max Weber’s Comparative-Historical Sociology Today: Major Themes, Mode of Causal Analysis, and Applications. London: Routledge.
Kaljonen M, Peltola T, Salo M and Furman E (2019) Attentive, speculative experimental research for sustainability transitions: An exploration in sustainable eating. Journal of Cleaner Production 206(January): 365–373.
Kause A, Bruine de Bruin W, Millward-Hopkins J and Olsson H (2019) Public perceptions of how to reduce carbon footprints of consumer food choices. Environmental Research 14(11):114005.
Kortetmäki T (2019) Tensions between food justice and climate change mitigation. In: Vinnari E and Vinnari M (eds) Sustainable governance and management of food systems: Ethical perspectives. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp.3508–3513.
Lamine C, Darnhofer I and Marsden T (2019) What enables just sustainability transitions in agrifood systems? An exploration of conceptual approaches using international comparative case studies. Journal of Rural Studies 68(May): 144–146.
Lascialfari M, Magrini MB and Triboulet P (2019) The drivers of product innovations in pulse-based foods: insights from case studies in France, Italy and USA. Journal of Innovation Economics Management 28(1): 111–143.
Lawhon M and Murphy J (2012) Socio-technical regimes and sustainability transitions: Insights from political ecology. Progress in Human Geography 36(3): 354–378.
Lombardini C and Lankoski L (2013) Forced choice restriction in promoting sustainable food consumption: Intended and unintended effects of the mandatory vegetarian day in Helsinki schools. Journal of Consumer Psychology 36: 159–178.
Lonkila A and Kaljonen M (2022) Ontological struggle over new product category: Transition potential of meat alternatives. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 42(March): 1–11.
Magrini MB, Fernandez-Inigo H, Doré A and Pauly O (2021) How institutional food services can contribute to sustainable agrifood systems? Investigating legume-serving, legume-cooking and legume-sourcing through France in 2019. Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies 102: 297–318.
Markowski KL and Roxburgh S (2019) “If I became a vegan, my family and friends would hate me:” Anticipating vegan stigma as a barrier to plant-based diets. Appetite 135(April): 1–9.
Marsden T (2013) Food systems under pressure: regulatory instabilities and the challenge of sustainable development. In: Spaargaren G, Oosterveer P and Loeber A (eds) Food Practices in Transition. Changing Food Consumption, Retail and Production in the Age of Reflexive Modernity. New York: Routledge, pp.291–311.
Marsden T, Banks J and Bristow G (2000) Food Supply Chain Approaches: Exploring their Role in Rural Development. Sociologia Ruralis 40(4): 424–438.
Mason P and Lang T (2017) Sustainable diets: how ecological nutrition can transform consumption and the food system. London and New York: Routledge.
Mikkola M (2009) Shaping professional identity for sustainability. Evidence in Finnish public catering. Appetite 53(1): 56–65.
Morris C, Kirwan J and Lally R (2014) Less meat initiatives: An initial exploration of a diet-focused social innovation in transitions to a more sustainable regime of meat provisioning. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 21(2): 189–208.
Niva M, Vainio A and Jallinoja P (2017) Barriers to increasing plant protein consumption in Western populations. In: Mariotti F (ed) Vegetarian and plant-based diets in health and disease prevention. Cambridge, MA: Academic Press, pp.157–171.
NNC (National Nutritional Council) (2017) Eating and learning together – recommendations for school meals. Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-302-844-9 (accessed 13 January 2023).
Paloviita A (2021) Developing a matrix framework for protein transition towards more sustainable diets. British Food Journal 123(13): 73–87.
Peltola T, Kaljonen M and Kettunen M (2020) Embodied public experiments on sustainable eating: demonstrating alternative proteins in Finnish schools. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy 16(1): 184–196.
Piazza J, Ruby MB, Loughnan S, Luong M, Kulik J, Watkins HM and Seigerman M (2015) Rationalizing meat consumption. The 4Ns. Appetite 91(August): 114–128.
Schedler K (2003) ‘… and politics?’ Public management developments in the light of two rationalities. Public Management Review 5(4): 533–550.
Smith J, Andersson G, Gourlay R, Karner S, Mikkelsen BE, Sonnino R and Barling D (2016) Balancing competing policy demands: the case of sustainable public sector food procurement. Journal of Cleaner Production 112(1): 249–256.
Sonnino R (2009) Quality food, public procurement, and sustainable development: the school meal revolution in Rome. Environment and Planning A 41(2): 425–440.
Stringer E (2013) Action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Townley B (1999) Practical reason and performance appraisal. Journal of Management Studies 36(3): 287–306.
Townley B (2002) The role of competing rationalities in institutional change. Academy of Management Journal 45(1): 163–179.
Tziva M, Negro SO, Kalfagianni A and Hekkert MP (2020) Understanding the protein transition: The rise of plant-based meat substitutes. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 35(June): 217–231.
Wahlen S, Heiskanen E and Aalto K (2012) Endorsing sustainable food consumption: Prospects from public catering. Journal of Consumer Policy 35(1): 7–21.
Watson V (2003) Conflicting rationalities: implications for planning theory and ethics. Planning theory and practice 4(4): 395–407.
Weber M (1946) Religious Rejections of the World. In: Gerth HH and Mills CW (eds) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. MLA 9th Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pp.323–359.
Weber M (1958) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Parsons T. New York; NY: Scribner’s.
Weber M (2019) Economy and Society: An outline of interpretive sociology. A new translation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, Garnett T, Tilman D, DeClerck F, Wood A and Jonell M (2019) Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet 2;393(10170): 447–492.
Austgulen M, Skuland S, Schjøll A and Alfnes F (2018) Consumer readiness to reduce meat consumption for the purpose of environmental sustainability: insights from Norway. Sustainability 10(9): 3058.
Autio M, Collins R, Wahlen S and Anttila M (2013) Consuming nostalgia? The appreciation of authenticity in local food production. International Journal of Consumer Studies 37(5): 564–568.
Balázs B, Kelemen E and Szakál D (2021) Transitions of Legume-based Agrifood Systems-Stakeholders' view from Hungary. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 27(1): 119–140.
Colombo PE, Patterson E, Lindroos AK, Parlesak A and Schäfer Elinder L (2020) Sustainable and acceptable school meals through optimization analysis: an intervention study. Nutrition Journal 19(61): 1–15.
De Boer J and Aiking H (2019) Strategies towards healthy and sustainable protein consumption: A transition framework at the levels of diets, dishes, and dish ingredients. Food Quality and Preference 73: 171–181.
Finnish Food and Drink Industries Federation (2022) Forkful of facts. Available at: https://www.etl.fi/en/statistics.html (accessed 21 January 2023).
Florén B, Amani P and Davis J (2017) Climate database facilitating climate smart meal planning for the public sector in Sweden. International Journal on Food System Dynamics 8(1): 72–80.
Fuenfschilling L and Truffer B (2014) The structuration of socio-technical regimes—Conceptual foundations from institutional theory. Research policy 43(4): 772–791.
Geels FW (2014) Regime resistance against low-carbon transitions: introducing politics and power into the multi-level perspective. Theory, culture and society 31(5): 21–40.
Geels FW and Schot J (2007) Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Research policy 36(3): 399–417.
Giusti AM, Bignetti E and Cannella C (2008) Exploring new frontiers in total food quality definition and assessment: from chemical to neurohemical properties. Food and Bioprocess Technology 1(2): 130–142.
Gottlieb R and Joshi A (2013) Food justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Grivins M, Tisenkopfs T, Tikka V and Silvasti T (2018) Manoeuvring between regulations to achieve locally accepted results: Analysis of school meals in Latvia and Finland. Food Security 10(6): 1389–1400.
Guest G, MacQueen KM and Namey E (2014) Applied thematic analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Ingram J, Maye D, Kirwan J, Curry N and Kubinakova K (2015) Interactions between niche and regime: an analysis of learning and innovation networks for sustainable agriculture across Europe. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension 21(1): 55–71.
Kalberg S (1980) Max Weber’s types of rationality: cornerstones for the analysis of rationalization processes in history. The American Journal of Sociology 85(5): 1145–1179.
Kalberg S (2011) Max Weber’s Comparative-Historical Sociology Today: Major Themes, Mode of Causal Analysis, and Applications. London: Routledge.
Kaljonen M, Peltola T, Salo M and Furman E (2019) Attentive, speculative experimental research for sustainability transitions: An exploration in sustainable eating. Journal of Cleaner Production 206(January): 365–373.
Kause A, Bruine de Bruin W, Millward-Hopkins J and Olsson H (2019) Public perceptions of how to reduce carbon footprints of consumer food choices. Environmental Research 14(11):114005.
Kortetmäki T (2019) Tensions between food justice and climate change mitigation. In: Vinnari E and Vinnari M (eds) Sustainable governance and management of food systems: Ethical perspectives. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp.3508–3513.
Lamine C, Darnhofer I and Marsden T (2019) What enables just sustainability transitions in agrifood systems? An exploration of conceptual approaches using international comparative case studies. Journal of Rural Studies 68(May): 144–146.
Lascialfari M, Magrini MB and Triboulet P (2019) The drivers of product innovations in pulse-based foods: insights from case studies in France, Italy and USA. Journal of Innovation Economics Management 28(1): 111–143.
Lawhon M and Murphy J (2012) Socio-technical regimes and sustainability transitions: Insights from political ecology. Progress in Human Geography 36(3): 354–378.
Lombardini C and Lankoski L (2013) Forced choice restriction in promoting sustainable food consumption: Intended and unintended effects of the mandatory vegetarian day in Helsinki schools. Journal of Consumer Psychology 36: 159–178.
Lonkila A and Kaljonen M (2022) Ontological struggle over new product category: Transition potential of meat alternatives. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 42(March): 1–11.
Magrini MB, Fernandez-Inigo H, Doré A and Pauly O (2021) How institutional food services can contribute to sustainable agrifood systems? Investigating legume-serving, legume-cooking and legume-sourcing through France in 2019. Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies 102: 297–318.
Markowski KL and Roxburgh S (2019) “If I became a vegan, my family and friends would hate me:” Anticipating vegan stigma as a barrier to plant-based diets. Appetite 135(April): 1–9.
Marsden T (2013) Food systems under pressure: regulatory instabilities and the challenge of sustainable development. In: Spaargaren G, Oosterveer P and Loeber A (eds) Food Practices in Transition. Changing Food Consumption, Retail and Production in the Age of Reflexive Modernity. New York: Routledge, pp.291–311.
Marsden T, Banks J and Bristow G (2000) Food Supply Chain Approaches: Exploring their Role in Rural Development. Sociologia Ruralis 40(4): 424–438.
Mason P and Lang T (2017) Sustainable diets: how ecological nutrition can transform consumption and the food system. London and New York: Routledge.
Mikkola M (2009) Shaping professional identity for sustainability. Evidence in Finnish public catering. Appetite 53(1): 56–65.
Morris C, Kirwan J and Lally R (2014) Less meat initiatives: An initial exploration of a diet-focused social innovation in transitions to a more sustainable regime of meat provisioning. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 21(2): 189–208.
Niva M, Vainio A and Jallinoja P (2017) Barriers to increasing plant protein consumption in Western populations. In: Mariotti F (ed) Vegetarian and plant-based diets in health and disease prevention. Cambridge, MA: Academic Press, pp.157–171.
NNC (National Nutritional Council) (2017) Eating and learning together – recommendations for school meals. Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-302-844-9 (accessed 13 January 2023).
Paloviita A (2021) Developing a matrix framework for protein transition towards more sustainable diets. British Food Journal 123(13): 73–87.
Peltola T, Kaljonen M and Kettunen M (2020) Embodied public experiments on sustainable eating: demonstrating alternative proteins in Finnish schools. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy 16(1): 184–196.
Piazza J, Ruby MB, Loughnan S, Luong M, Kulik J, Watkins HM and Seigerman M (2015) Rationalizing meat consumption. The 4Ns. Appetite 91(August): 114–128.
Schedler K (2003) ‘… and politics?’ Public management developments in the light of two rationalities. Public Management Review 5(4): 533–550.
Smith J, Andersson G, Gourlay R, Karner S, Mikkelsen BE, Sonnino R and Barling D (2016) Balancing competing policy demands: the case of sustainable public sector food procurement. Journal of Cleaner Production 112(1): 249–256.
Sonnino R (2009) Quality food, public procurement, and sustainable development: the school meal revolution in Rome. Environment and Planning A 41(2): 425–440.
Stringer E (2013) Action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Townley B (1999) Practical reason and performance appraisal. Journal of Management Studies 36(3): 287–306.
Townley B (2002) The role of competing rationalities in institutional change. Academy of Management Journal 45(1): 163–179.
Tziva M, Negro SO, Kalfagianni A and Hekkert MP (2020) Understanding the protein transition: The rise of plant-based meat substitutes. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 35(June): 217–231.
Wahlen S, Heiskanen E and Aalto K (2012) Endorsing sustainable food consumption: Prospects from public catering. Journal of Consumer Policy 35(1): 7–21.
Watson V (2003) Conflicting rationalities: implications for planning theory and ethics. Planning theory and practice 4(4): 395–407.
Weber M (1946) Religious Rejections of the World. In: Gerth HH and Mills CW (eds) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. MLA 9th Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pp.323–359.
Weber M (1958) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Parsons T. New York; NY: Scribner’s.
Weber M (2019) Economy and Society: An outline of interpretive sociology. A new translation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, Garnett T, Tilman D, DeClerck F, Wood A and Jonell M (2019) Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet 2;393(10170): 447–492.
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