Published at 2021, May 31th
More and more, this statement is gaining momentum: plant-based food is the key to a better future. However, it is important to be aware of this impact and to know the possibilities for making your diet plant-based.
Since 2004, the Louis Bonduelle Foundation has been working to transform eating habits and move towards sustainable eating behaviours, notably through research and education. Today, it has chosen to turn to new communication channels in order to raise awareness, highlight the environmental, climatic and societal impact of our food choices and draw up a portrait of the solutions that everyone can take advantage of to change their diet. Focus on these initiatives with Marjorie Gallée, Coordinator of the Louis Bonduelle Foundation.
Plant-based food: the key to a better future
Our food is currently based on food systems with a high ecological footprint. 25 to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions come from our food. It is now essential to put plants back at the heart of our plates, for the planet as well as for our health, and the figures seem to support this. Since last year, the consumption of fruits and vegetables has jumped by 5% in France. A historical trend that can be explained by the health crisis and confinements, but which does not meet the minimum amount of fruit and vegetables recommended in the national nutrition plan, that is 400 to 500 grams per day per individual.
However, the shift towards a more plant-based diet is now necessary and even urgent. Whether it is about the planet, the human being or the climate, our consumption choices have an impact that everyone has the power to reduce. For the Louis Bonduelle Foundation, plant-based food is the key to a better future. There is a growing need to raise awareness of the benefits of these new eating habits.
How to increase awareness of plant-based food?
Aware of its role in the transition to a more sustainable diet, the Louis Bonduelle Foundation has been advocating a shift to plant-based eating habits since its creation. In order to raise consumer awareness, it acts on several levels:
- Contributing to the development of research to improve the effectiveness of actions
- Developing actions in the field by accompanying the actors of the transition
- Raising awareness and encouraging action through communication actions
Through its role in raising awareness and challenging people, communication is a powerful lever for transformation. In this respect, digital technology offers all the more possibilities to reach a target that is not yet very concerned by plant-based food but is particularly open to changing its eating habits.
This is the aspect that the Louis Bonduelle Foundation has chosen to focus on in order to develop new formats for raising awareness on a large scale. The objective is to enable everyone to acquire the keys to understanding why and how to transform sustainably their eating habits.
The Foundation wishes to address young adults and parents in particular through entertaining, informative and inspiring content, developed on a scientific basis and thanks to the testimonies of actors in the field. These contents allow everyone to understand the ins and outs of this dietary transition and to encourage them to take action without making them feel guilty.
Digital: an effective tool for raising awareness about the food transition
In order to reach young adults, the foundation chose to focus on the lifestyle of this target group and developed formats adapted to their expectations and interests. Two main digital media stood out: a media on Instagram and podcasts. In both cases, the idea is to make the target group want to take an interest in the issue of a more sustainable diet.
- “Dans mon Assiette” (In my plate): a French speaking collaborative media that promotes better eating behavior
With this aim of raising awareness among young adults, the Louis Bonduelle Foundation has launched its own collaborative media on Instagram: a page dedicated to transforming eating habits.
With the “Dans mon Assiette” page, the foundation wants to advocate the massive integration of vegetables in the diet of a target group that wants to eat healthier, include sports in its daily life and adopt a better lifestyle. The speech is simple and human. The tone is cheerful and light. The idea is to create a community based on benevolence, mutual aid, sharing and the exchange of good practices, relying in particular on the influence of people recognized as legitimate on the social network. The foundation wishes to position itself as an ally to this target group without making them feel guilty, to enable them to transform their habits step by step.
The use of Instagram is particularly coherent insofar as this social network is partly based on the exchange of best practices, proximity, and is an integral part of the daily life of this target. Indeed, it allows to easily interact with the community thanks to numerous tools such as polls, quizzes, questions/answers.
- “Le Goût des Nôtres” (Our tastes): the podcast of the actors of the food transition
This podcast developed by the French media Sogood and imagined by the Louis Bonduelle Foundation aims to raise awareness among a wider audience. The aim is to provide information on the food transition and the issues at stake in everyday life, through the testimonies of players in the food industry: market gardeners, farmers, restaurant owners, etc.
Each episode goes to the meeting of family sagas by interviewing old and new generations of producers who all share the same vision of healthy, natural and tasty products. “Le Goût des Nôtres” attempts to draw a portrait of a modern agricultural France committed to the ecological transition, to present the people and know-how behind our food in a format that has become very popular in recent years. This format allows to humanize the discourse and to create a proximity with the consumer, guarantee of authenticity.
The communication channels offered by digital technology are concrete ways of transforming eating habits thanks to their proximity and immediacy. With this in mind, the Louis Bonduelle Foundation has developed two new formats, the Instagram page “Dans mon Assiette” and the podcasts “Le Goût des Nôtres”, to advocate a diet that is more respectful of people, their health and the environment, to a target audience that is very present on these channels but not yet very aware of the issues surrounding a more sustainable diet.
