Rethinking standards: "Normal or with meat?"

GastroJournal: Our food culture is changing. How good a match are innovation and tradition when it comes to food?
Christine Schäfer: Traditions can often be a hurdle for innovation. In Switzerland, people are strongly influenced by the country's alpine agriculture based on cows, goats and sheep. This is reflected in our food culture, in which cheese, milk and meat are very present. Advertisers also like playing with images of green alpine meadows and happily grazing cows. It's a part of our identity. So it's hardly surprising that topics such as "We eat too many animal products," "Cows are bad for the environment" and "We have new food tech solutions from the lab" are met with resistance. They are unusual and strange. It's therefore important for us to discuss changes.

Not only familiarity, but also enjoyment is a top priority for most people. How then can innovations and more sustainable products establish themselves?
Rational arguments will only get you so far on an emotive subject like nutrition. However, if you steer it via enjoyment and show people that innovative or sustainable products from the region are really good and pleasant to eat, you can indeed reach people.

Can the catering industry make a difference as an actor?
The catering industry has an important role to play in bringing sustainable or innovative products to consumers. It shows its customers new and enjoyable options without them having to find out about the products themselves, buy them or even know how to prepare them correctly so that they taste good.

Read the complete interview on gastrojournal.ch. 
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Christine Schäfer is a senior researcher and consultant at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI). She analyses social, economic and technological change, primarily with regard to food, consumption and trade.