Future Food Utrecht presents Feeding Curiosity in September

(NL 鈫lees hier) 
Welcome! By scanning the QR code, you鈥檝e landed on this page to discover more about our special dish and the story behind it. Every month, Future Food Utrecht, the Faculty Club, and Vineyard highlight a dish, paired with an in-depth article exploring the connection between food and science.

Didn鈥檛 arrive here via the QR code? You can also enjoy the special at the Faculty Club, where carefully prepares each dish. So don鈥檛 miss out. Come by and taste it for yourself!

On the menu is the : a hybrid burger of juicy beef and oyster mushrooms, served on an organic bun with grilled bell pepper, caramelized onions, and a spicy sriracha mayonnaise.
Nutritional values Blended Burger per 100 g: Energie (kJ/kcal) 972/234 | Fat 14.9 g | of which saturated fat 9.6 g | Carbohydrates 3.3 g | of which sugars 0.9 g | Fiber 0.7 g | Protein 12.9 g | Salt 1.15 g

In this first in-depth article, Dr. Koen Beumer, researcher at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 and board member of Future Food Utrecht, takes us along the theme of protein transition: the essential shift from animal to plant-based proteins. Read more about it here and order this special dish right away.

How can we speed up the shift to plant-based proteins?

The way we eat has a major impact on the environment. Meat and dairy, in particular, have a significant ecological footprint. If we want to take serious steps toward a sustainable future, we need to eat less animal products and more plant-based alternatives. This shift is called the protein transition.

Together with a consortium of Dutch universities, companies, and social organizations, I am working on a research project aimed at better understanding and accelerating the protein transition. Our goal is to contribute to a future where plant-based proteins are the norm, not the exception.

We approach this challenge from four perspectives:

  1. What drives the consumer?
    Why do people choose or not choose plant-based products? And how can we frame the message to make plant-based eating more appealing? We study how communication and persuasion techniques can help.
  2. Meat is deeply embedded in daily life
    For many, eating meat is second nature, it is part of traditions, family life, and convenience. This makes it hard to replace. We use insights from categorization theory to understand how consumers mentally position plant-based alternatives: is a plant-based burger still a 鈥渞eal鈥 burger? And what does this mean for its acceptance?
  3. How does the system around it work?
    The protein transition is not just about consumers. The entire innovation system from labs to government, and from agriculture to supermarkets, also plays a role. We analyze which forces advance the transition and where it stalls. Only by understanding this can we intervene effectively.
  4. Designing for change
    Finally, we look at how design and framing can support change. How do you start a movement? How do you make plant-based eating the obvious choice for everyone? What other design interventions are available? We experiment with frames, strategies, and system interventions that can accelerate the protein transition.

Our runs from September 2020 to July 2025 and is funded by NWO (the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research). My colleagues and I are working with great enthusiasm on this mission.

Come back each month for a new dish, a new story, and new insights into how food shapes our future.