Peer Reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 02 June 2025; revision accepted: 31 August 2025
Perspectives of guests and kitchen managers
Introduction
Reducing meat consumption is key for reducing climate-relevant gas emissions of the food and agriculture sector. According to the Planetary Health Diet developed by the EAT-Lancet Commission in 2019, which aims to provide healthy, environmentally friendly and socially acceptable nutrition for the world’s population, meat
consumption worldwide must be halved [1].
In communal catering, there is increasing recognition of the great potential for a shift towards a healthy and more sustainable diet (low in meat, organic, regional) [2–4]. It reaches many people from diverse social backgrounds every day and addresses guests with different dietary habits [5]. In line with the concept of food environments (6, 7), communal
catering provides an essential basis for easy access to sustainable foods such as plant-based meat alternatives. Food environments are defined as “the physical, economic, political and socio-cultural environment” ([6] p. 112) in which food choices are made. They include, for example, the availability and prices of food, infrastructural factors, laws, nutrition programmes, income differences, social norms and traditions. These external factors directly or indirectly determine people’s dietary options [8]. At the individual level, these factors shape consumption patterns by determining which food products people have access to and which they can afford and want to buy [7]. …
Abstract
Since communal catering reaches a broad range of people, it is assumed that offering appropriate food choices can encourage changes towards more sustainable and healthier eating habits. The study focused on reducing meat dishes by introducing plant-based meat alternatives (seitan and tempeh). A survey with 736 canteen guests during campaign weeks shows that the majority is very open to plant-based meat alternatives. This is more pronounced among the group of younger, better-educated, female people than among older, male canteen guests. Aspects such as the regional origin of the products, organic quality and the low degree of processing play an important role. However, whether dishes with plantbased meat alternatives are chosen depends primarily on whether they are perceived as appealing in terms of taste. For the successful introduction of plant-based meat alternatives in canteens, it is important to overcome the scepticism of kitchen staff and to provide the guests with adequate information.
