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Author: Tess Tjokrodikromo (TNO), Nayla Saniour (UPM), Maiara Biscaro Uliana (TNO)
Developing a bottom-up approach for a healthy and animal-friendly food strategy
EVA is a bottom-up initiative that promotes plant-based diets through cooking workshops & awareness. EVA believes that, on average, plant-based products have the greatest overall positive impact on the well-being of people, animals and the planet. Working on a larger scale with restaurants, hospitals and schools through guidance at institutional kitchens will have a large-scale impact.
According to the policy plan 2021 â 2025, the role that policy can play in the greening of our food system is huge. At local, Flemish, federal and European levels, EVA wants to stimulate and inspire governments to develop a sustainable, healthy and animal-friendly food strategy. Together with BBL and GAIA, EVA wants to make sure, among other things, that livestock numbers are reduced; that money is invested in the transition to plant protein sources; that the government sensitizes the consumers about the importance of more plant-based food; and that the government itself sets a good example. At European and international levels, the ambition is to cooperate more closely with ProVeg on climate policy and the transition of European agricultural policy.
Plant-based diets are beneficial to reaching climate neutrality and EVA is promoting behavioural changes towards this diet through their activities. According to the FAO, livestock farming is one of the main causes of every major environmental problem: climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and water pollution. The conversion of plant proteins into animal proteins is generally inefficient and requires a lot of land, water and energy.
With a vegetarian diet becoming more mainstream in the last few years, the opposition is also growing. While it is a good thing that the number of flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans is growing and EVA possibly receiving more attention they also encounter strong resistance from sectors that depend on animal products for their income.
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An innovative approach
Although one in two Flemings say they would like to eat less meat in the future, there are a lot of thresholds and obstacles between wanting and doing. EVA sees it as their role to lower these thresholds in innovative ways. They do this through nudging, through new and unprecedented collaborations with companies and other intermediaries such as civil society, the media, governments and the hospitality industry, and through the innovative self-managing way in which they shape their community and approach their volunteers. Thursday Veggieday is a national and international example of how eating habits can be changed through small positive nudges. Nudging is embedded in their strategy; they consider themselves trendsetters in this field.
Main positive lessons
- Support by the city of Gent that endorsed the launch of an official veggie day (Thursday Veggieday).
- The EVA team is stable and therefore has a lot of experience and expertise.
- Due to EVA's positive reputation, they are seen as a reliable, accessible organization, which makes collaborations run smoothly.
Main barriers found
- EVA is not seen as a traditional charity organization and is therefore struggling with recruiting members and receiving sufficient donations.
- The initiative is still too much regarded as something just for the city of Gent.
- As an organization, EVA is still not well-known to the average Fleming; EVA's actions or campaigns are not always associated with them.
Potential for reaplication and scale-up
The initiative is scalable in the sense that it can become a bigger organisation with more employees, more volunteers, more partners and have a bigger outreach. Furthermore, it is also possible to ââreplicateââ and start the same initiative in other cities and countries. However, the issue now is that EVA is not that well-known and they have difficulty in obtaining members and funding (donations) to grow.