Background
Eatwell Guide
Developed by Public Health England in 2016, the Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat should come from each food group and can help you get a balance of healthier and more sustainable food.
Rewind the future
Developed in 2013 by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, this Strong4Life campaign, Rewind the Future, is a YouTube clip which rewinds back in time to show how a fictional man’s unhealthy eating habits since childhood led to him having a heart attack at age 32.
Portion Distortion Report
The British Heart Foundation published their Portion Distortion Report in 2013 which shows how portion sizes in the UK’s main retailers have grown compared to 1993.
Other initiatives
Waste and Resources Action Programme
WRAP works with governments, businesses and communities to deliver practical solutions to improve resource efficiency. They worked with the World Resources Institute, on behalf of Champions 12.3, to publish The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste in 2017; a first-of-its-kind analysis that demonstrates there is a robust business case for companies, countries, and cities to reduce food loss and waste.
Peas Please Project
The Peas Please Project is a ground-breaking new initiative focused specifically on vegetables. The Food Foundation’s objective is to secure commitments from industry and government to improve the availability, acceptability (including convenience), affordability, and quality of the vegetable offer in shops, schools, fast food restaurants and beyond. In turn, they hope to stimulate increased vegetable consumption among the UK public, particularly children and those on a low income.
Food for Life
Food for Life brings schools, nurseries, hospitals, care homes and their surrounding communities together around the core ethos of healthy, tasty and sustainable food. They published State of the Nation: Children’s Food report in England, 2018 which sums up how children have eaten in 2018, considering the political, environmental and social forces shaping their diets.
Sustainable Restaurant Association
In 2017, the Sustainable Restaurant Association published their Kids Veg Out Campaign Resource which will help you to understand perfect portions, key principles for rethinking your menu, tactics from across the industry, and solutions by business type.
In the news
Two-thirds of children’s meals in restaurants ‘exceed fat guidelines’, Independent.ie, online article 13 June 2019.
The diets cutting one in five lives short every year, BBC News, online article 4 April 2019.
Veganism: How a maligned movement went mainstream, BBC News, online article 30 December 2017.
The unstoppable rise of veganism: how a fringe movement went mainstream, The Guardian, online article 1 April 2018.
Fighting ‘all you can eat’ waste, BBC News, online article 2 February 2019.
The three friends behind a $1bn healthy fast-food firm, BBC News, online article 25 February 2019.
How two friends built a popular food website, BBC News, Online article 4 February 2019.
9 ways millennials are changing the way we eat, Washington Post, Online article 21 Feb 2018.
Customer insight
Food Matters Live
Food Matters Live is a global community where food, health and innovation meet. It connects like-minded people working in food, drink and nutrition across a series of events with an ever-expanding global digital audience. The unique events provide a platform to share game-changing ideas, innovations and insights. A dedicated digital platform presents the latest news, views and insights from the industry. The ambition is to change the future of food and drink, and the health of the planet, for the better.
The Grocer
The Grocer has a weekly magazine for the FMCG industry and, through thegrocer.co.uk, news is reported as it happens. They produce reports, for example Food to go: Get ready for the counter revolution, a trend report published in November 2018 and Food on the move report 2017. Time to shape up? How food & drink to go can get healthier, published in October 2017.
Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a full-service, digital consultative custom market research agency that combines sector expertise with award-winning research design and they share useful insight via their website and blog. The Grocer commissioned research by Harris Interactive which led to the report The Grocer: Food-to-go, published in October 2018.
YouGov
YouGov is a global public opinion and data company which captures what the world thinks. Their relevant publications include Is the future of food flexitarian? YouGov analysis of Brits’ dietary habits and attitudes to meat consumption, published in 2019.
Futures
FUTURES is a new service from just-food, the online news, insight and research portal for the food industry. Starting with a digital report and a series of digital magazines, it’s designed to help food firms plan for the future. From consumer trends to new tech, each issue will examine a key trend and how it will impact on the industry. See their issue Eat what you are: the future of personalised nutrition, issue no. 04 from January 2019.
Euromonitor International
Euromonitor International is the world’s leading independent provider of strategic market research. They create data and analysis on thousands of products and services around the world. For example, see their Top Global Consumer Trends for 2019 market research white paper.
Kantar World Panel
Kantar is the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company. Through their consumer panels they provide you with insights about consumers and shoppers in many sectors and monitor shopper and usage patterns on a continuous basis to help you adapt your strategies. For example, their consumer panels for food and beverages consumption and use outside of the home.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
PricewaterhouseCoopers are a leading professional services network that help their clients make informed decisions and operate effectively. They produce publications such as the Global Consumer Insights Survey 2019 and reports such as Healthy eating is increasingly on consumer’s agendas, with millennials leading the way published in August 2016.
Menu tips
10 menu design hacks restaurants use to make you order more, Canva.com, online article.
The Science of Menu Design: How Restaurants Can Make You Choose A Salad Over A Cheeseburger, FastCompany.com, online article 13 August 2014.
10 Tips for Delicious Menu Design, DesignShack.net, online article 25 March 2015.
Slim by design: Menu strategies for promoting high-margin, healthy foods, by Wansink and Love, published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management Volume 42(2014), pp 137-143.
How to get customers to try (and love) your new menu items, RestaurantEngine.com, online article 28 July 2014.
How to write powerful menu descriptions that increase profits, MenuCoverDepot.com, online article September 2016.
Introducing “activity equivalent” calorie labelling to tackle obesity, Royal Society for Public Health position paper, January 2016.
Further insight into current science in the field of changing eating habits
Behavioural Insights Team
The Behavioural Insights Team generate and apply behavioural insights to inform policy, improve public services and deliver results for citizens and society. They started off as part of the UK Government but it is now a global company. They produce papers such as EAST Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights, published in 2014.
Food and Behaviour Research
Food and Behaviour Research is a charitable organisation dedicated both to advancing scientific research into the links between nutrition and human behaviour and to making the findings from such research available to the widest possible audience.
The International Food Information Council Foundation
The International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation is dedicated to effectively communicating science-based information on health, nutrition and food safety for the public good. For example, they published an article Is Label Literacy a Key to Healthier Food Choices? Understanding consumer attitudes towards health food labels in January 2019.
European Food Information Council
The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) is a non-profit organisation which stands up for science-based information on food and health. Their mission is to offer accessible, appealing and actionable science-based information on food and health to inspire and empower people to make better decisions about diet and lifestyle.
Research
Kraak, V.I., Englund, T., Misyak, S. and Serrano, E.L. (2017). A novel marketing mix and choice architecture framework to nudge restaurant customers towards healthy food environments to reduce obesity in the United States. Obesity Reviews, 18, pp. 852-868.
Cadario, R. and Chandon, P. (2018). Which Healthy Eating Nudges Work Best? A Meta-Analysis of Field Experiments. Marketing Science, (forthcoming).
TEDx talk: Epicurean Nudging – A Triple Win Model. Research by Pierre Chandon, the L’Oreal Chaired Professor of Marketing, Innovation and Creativity at INSEAD, on “Epicurean nudging” shows how pleasure can be a path to healthier eating and how food marketing can be a force for good, helping to align health, business, and pleasure.
Aarestrup, S. C., Schuldt-Jensen, J., Schilling, M., Caroline and Guldborg Hansen, C. and Guldborg Hansen, P. New Experiment: Just A Simple Trick Can Nudge You to Eat Healthier, iNudgeyou, online article.
Books
Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. Harper Collins.
Ariely, D., Hreha, J. & Berman, K. (2014). Hacking Human Nature for Good. Irrational Labs.
Atkins, L., West, R. & Michie, S. (2014). The Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions. Silverback Publishing.
Barden, P. (2013). Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy. John Wiley & Sons.
Berger, J. (2013). Contagious: Why Things Catch On. Simon & Schuster.
Berger, J. (2017). Invisible Influence. Simon & Schuster.
Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Revised edition. New York: Harper Collins.
Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad. Random House Business.
Deci, E.L. (1996). Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation. Penguin.
Duhigg, C. (2013). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House Books.
Eyal, N. (2014). Hooked: How to Built Habit Forming Products. Portfolio Penguin.
Gladwell, M. (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Little, Brown and Company.
Halpern, D. (2015). Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference. WH Allen.
Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2011). Switch: How To Change When Change Is Hard. Random House Business.
Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2008). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Arrow.
Iyengar, S. (2011). The Art of Choosing. Abacus.
Kahnemann, D. (2012). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Penguin.
Kolenda, N. (2013). Methods of Persuasion: How to Use Psychology to Influence Human Behavior. Kolenda Entertainment, LLC.
Loewenstein, G. (2008). Exotic Preferences: Behavioural Economics and Human Motivation. Oxford University Press, USA.
Martin, S., Goldstein, N. & Cialdini, R. (2015). The Small Big: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence. Profile Books Ltd.
McGonigal, K. (2013). The Willpower Instinct. Avery Publishing Group Inc., U.S.
Mlodinow, L. (2013). Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior. Vintage.
Norman, D. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things. MIT Press.
Pink, D.H. (2011). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Canongate Books Ltd.
Schwartz, B. (2005). The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. Harper Perennial.
Shotton, R. (2018). Choice Factory: 25 Behavioural Biases That Influence What We Buy. Harriman House.
Simler, K. & Hanson, R. (2018). The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life. OUP USA.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2009). Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Revised and expanded edition. New York: Penguin Books.
Weinschenke, S. (2011). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People. New Riders.
Wendel, S. (2013). Designing for Behavior Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioral Economics. O’Reilly Media.