IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i13p7305-d585201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability Transitions in University Food Service—A Living Lab Approach of Locavore Meal Planning and Procurement

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Kretschmer

    (Department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture (FB 11), University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Sheena Dehm

    (Department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture (FB 11), University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

Abstract

Due to its purchasing power, the public food service sector is viewed as a potential transformative driver towards sustainable food systems. Organic meal planning and regional procurement may be a vital implementation strategy towards Planetary Health Diets in the communal catering arena. Capable of unleashing desirable synergies within local foodsheds, this transition pathway can potentially benefit all stages of the value chain, while also positively influencing consumer dietary behavior. Transformation, however, poses complex challenges to caterers, as it demands a shift in mindset regarding the philosophy, organization, and management of cafeteria systems as well as the need for affordable and aggregated supplies of source-identified local organic foods. This action research case study engaged the public caterer of a German University, undergraduate students, and additional stakeholders in a Living Lab to develop a weekly farm-to-table cafeteria menu, including its actual preparation, based on a conceptual sustainability standard. Hence, through an iterative process, involving two feedback cycles, an ambitious set of nutritional and procurement criteria were devised, inspired by the external input from exemplary practitioners in the field of green cuisine and procurement. The resulting meal plan was then subjected to an evaluation vis-á-vis its compliance with (1) dietary recommendations, (2) seasonality, (3) organic certification, (4) a defined foodshed boundary, (5) budget neutrality, and (6) life cycle assessment.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Kretschmer & Sheena Dehm, 2021. "Sustainability Transitions in University Food Service—A Living Lab Approach of Locavore Meal Planning and Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-31, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7305-:d:585201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7305/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7305/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ioannis Manikas & George Malindretos & Socrates Moschuris, 2019. "A Community-Based Agro-Food Hub Model for Sustainable Farming," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Eddi Omrcen & Ullika Lundgren & Marianne Dalbro, 2018. "Universities as role models for sustainability: a case study on implementation of University of Gothenburg climate strategy, results and experiences from 2011 to 2015," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1/2), pages 156-182.
    3. Tobias Engelmann & Melanie Speck & Holger Rohn & Katrin Bienge & Nina Langen & Eva Howell & Christine Göbel & Silke Friedrich & Petra Teitscheid & Jaya Bowry & Christa Liedtke & Silvia Monetti, 2018. "Sustainability Assessment of Out-of-Home Meals: Potentials and Challenges of Applying the Indicator sets NAHGAST Meal-Basic and NAHGAST Meal-Pro," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Belmira Neto & Miguel Gama Caldas, 2018. "The use of green criteria in the public procurement of food products and catering services: a review of EU schemes," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 1905-1933, October.
    5. Charis Linda Braun & Meike Rombach & Anna Maria Häring & Vera Bitsch, 2018. "A Local Gap in Sustainable Food Procurement: Organic Vegetables in Berlin’s School Meals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    6. Patrícia Tourais & Nuno Videira, 2016. "Why, How and What do Organizations Achieve with the Implementation of Environmental Management Systems?—Lessons from a Comprehensive Review on the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-25, March.
    7. McFadden, Dawn Thilmany & et al.: +12, 2017. "The Economics of Local Food Systems: A Toolkit to Guide Community Discussions, Assessments and Choices," Technical Resources 316238, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Transportation and Marketing Program.
    8. Hamid El Bilali, 2019. "Research on agro-food sustainability transitions: where are food security and nutrition?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 559-577, June.
    9. Moya Kneafsey & Laura Venn & Ulrich Schmutz & Balász Bálint & Liz Trenchard & Trish Eyden-Woods & Elizabeth Bos & Gemma Sutton & Matthew Blackett, 2013. "Short Food Supply Chains and Local Food Systems in the EU. A State of Play of their Socio-Economic Characteristics," JRC Research Reports JRC80420, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Gianluca Brunori & Francesca Galli & Dominique Barjolle & Rudolf Van Broekhuizen & Luca Colombo & Mario Giampietro & James Kirwan & Tim Lang & Erik Mathijs & Damian Maye & Kees De Roest & Carin Rougoo, 2016. "Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-27, May.
    11. Adrian Muller & Christian Schader & Nadia El-Hage Scialabba & Judith Brüggemann & Anne Isensee & Karl-Heinz Erb & Pete Smith & Peter Klocke & Florian Leiber & Matthias Stolze & Urs Niggli, 2017. "Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Markard, Jochen & Raven, Rob & Truffer, Bernhard, 2012. "Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 955-967.
    13. Barham, James & Tropp, Debra & Enterline, Kathleen & Farbman, Jeff & Fisk, John & Kiraly, Stacia, 2012. "Regional Food Hub Resource Guide," Research Reports 145227, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Transportation and Marketing Program.
    14. Carlie D. Trott & Andrea E. Weinberg & Laura B. Sample McMeeking, 2018. "Prefiguring Sustainability through Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Reflections and Recommendations for Student Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Giaime Berti & Catherine Mulligan, 2016. "Competitiveness of Small Farms and Innovative Food Supply Chains: The Role of Food Hubs in Creating Sustainable Regional and Local Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-31, July.
    16. Sebastian Kretschmer & Bettina Langfeldt & Christian Herzig & Thomas Krikser, 2021. "The Organic Mindset: Insights from a Mixed Methods Grounded Theory (MM-GT) Study into Organic Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
    17. Clancy, Kate & Ruhf, Kathryn, 2010. "Is Local Enough? Some Arguments for Regional Food Systems," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 25(1), pages 1-5.
    18. Cynthia Pfeiffer & Melanie Speck & Carola Strassner, 2017. "What Leads to Lunch—How Social Practices Impact (Non-)Sustainable Food Consumption/Eating Habits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-17, August.
    19. Ulrike Arens-Azevedo, 2012. "Regionale Produkte in der Gemeinschaftsverpflegung: aktuelle Situation, Hemmnisse und Förderndes bei der Verwendung," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 81(4), pages 147-162.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ildikó Kovács & Marietta Balázsné Lendvai & Judit Beke, 2022. "The Importance of Food Attributes and Motivational Factors for Purchasing Local Food Products: Segmentation of Young Local Food Consumers in Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Anna Pamula & Zbigniew Gontar & Beata Gontar & Tetiana Fesenko, 2023. "Latent Dirichlet Allocation in Public Procurement Documents Analysis for Determining Energy Efficiency Issues in Construction Works at Polish Universities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-23, June.
    3. Marek Zborowski & Anna Mikulec, 2022. "Dietary Catering: The Perfect Solution for Rational Food Management in Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-10, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valeria Borsellino & Emanuele Schimmenti & Hamid El Bilali, 2020. "Agri-Food Markets towards Sustainable Patterns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-35, March.
    2. Alexandra Doernberg & Annette Piorr & Ingo Zasada & Dirk Wascher & Ulrich Schmutz, 2022. "Sustainability assessment of short food supply chains (SFSC): developing and testing a rapid assessment tool in one African and three European city regions," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 885-904, September.
    3. John J. Hyland & Áine Macken-Walsh, 2022. "Multi-Actor Social Networks: A Social Practice Approach to Understanding Food Hubs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Vladimir Todorovic & Marinko Maslaric & Sanja Bojic & Maja Jokic & Dejan Mircetic & Svetlana Nikolicic, 2018. "Solutions for More Sustainable Distribution in the Short Food Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-27, September.
    5. Anuj Mittal & Caroline C. Krejci & Teri J. Craven, 2018. "Logistics Best Practices for Regional Food Systems: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-44, January.
    6. Efryta Wulan Anggraeni & Yuanita Handayati & Santi Novani, 2022. "Improving Local Food Systems through the Coordination of Agriculture Supply Chain Actors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Javier Sanz-Cañada & José Luis Sánchez-Hernández & Daniel López-García, 2023. "Reflecting on the Concept of Local Agroecological Food Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, May.
    8. Korhonen Kirsi & Kotavaara Ossi & Muilu Toivo & Rusanen Jarmo, 2017. "Accessibility of Local Food Production to Regional Markets – Case of Berry Production in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 9(4), pages 709-728, December.
    9. Yuna Chiffoleau & Tara Dourian, 2020. "Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Is Shortening the Answer? A Literature Review for a Research and Innovation Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-21, November.
    10. Ioannis Manikas & George Malindretos & Socrates Moschuris, 2019. "A Community-Based Agro-Food Hub Model for Sustainable Farming," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    11. Giaime Berti, 2020. "Sustainable Agri-Food Economies: Re-Territorialising Farming Practices, Markets, Supply Chains, and Policies," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-9, March.
    12. Andre Deppermann & Petr Havlík & Hugo Valin & Esther Boere & Mario Herrero & Joost Vervoort & Erik Mathijs, 2018. "The market impacts of shortening feed supply chains in Europe," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1401-1410, December.
    13. Enthoven, Laura & Van den Broeck, Goedele, 2021. "Local food systems: Reviewing two decades of research," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    14. Athanasios Ragkos & Alexandros Theodoridis & Georgios Arsenos, 2019. "Alternative Approaches of Summer Milk Sales from Transhumant Sheep and Goat Farms: A Case Study from Northern Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-21, October.
    15. Simon Berner & Hartmut Derler & René Rehorska & Stephan Pabst & Ulrike Seebacher, 2019. "Roadmapping to Enhance Local Food Supply: Case Study of a City-Region in Austria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-16, July.
    16. Meng Wang & Vikas Kumar & Ximing Ruan & Mohammed Saad & Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes & Anil Kumar, 2022. "Sustainability concerns on consumers’ attitude towards short food supply chains: an empirical investigation," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 76-92, June.
    17. Elvira Molin & Michael Martin & Anna Björklund, 2021. "Addressing Sustainability within Public Procurement of Food: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-21, December.
    18. Aparna Katre & Teresa Bertossi & Abigail Clarke-Sather & Mary Parsatoon, 2022. "Agroecological Transition: A Territorial Examination of the Simultaneity of Limited Farmer Livelihoods and Food Insecurity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-26, March.
    19. Kallas, Zein & Alba, Martin Federico & Casellas, Karina & Berges, Miriam & Degreef, Gustavo & Gil, José M., 2021. "The development of short food supply chain for locally produced honey. Understanding consumers' opinions and willingness to pay in Argentina," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3234, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    20. Mohammad Fazle Rabbi & Morshadul Hasan & Sándor Kovács, 2021. "Food Security and Transition towards Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7305-:d:585201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.