The Nutrition subproject investigates forward-looking practices of production and consumption as a response to crises in the food system. How do stable structures of sustainable food systems emerge in collectively organised forms of production and consumption?

Focus on social innovations

Nutrition is understood as a social and cultural phenomenon comprising the entire value chain. The project is based on various forms of social innovation for sustainable practices in which production and consumption are allocated to each other in new ways. The focus is primarily on practices that have a high degree of communality and are associated with different transformations in different areas.

Research questions

Which alternative food practices are identified with a view to a normatively better future? What do different actors think about alternative forms and practices of nutrition? With whom do alternatives resonate and where is there resistance that causes alternative practices to fail? To what extent do certain alternative forms and practices of nutrition stabilise and what is their relationship to established structures?

Mixed methods

Forward-looking nutrition is investigated using a broad-based research approach: In case studies, communities of alternative food practices are analysed in depth ethnographically. This is supplemented by qualitative interviews with actors and experts. At the same time, a representative population survey is used to evaluate the spread and acceptance of alternative diets.