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MEATigation: Meat in Norwegian Food Practices: Eating

This project is part of the NTNU lead project MEATigation: Towards sustainable meat use in Norwegian food practices for climate mitigation.

About the project

MEATigation joins eleven researchers in Social Sciences Humanities and Arts with nine industry partners in food provision and sustainability communication to investigate a key challenge facing Norway’s transition to a low-emission society: transforming the food system.

A reduction in Western meat consumption is critical for global food security, respecting planetary boundaries and improving global health. However, even when positive to climate action, Europeans are reluctant to reduce their meat consumption, especially in the Nordic regions. This is because meat is not just calories: It is culture. Meat is deeply embedded in social practices that weave together meanings, identities and values; competences, skills and professions; materials, animals and landscapes that all go into making meat.

Objectives

MEATigation’s primary objective is: To explore how meat is embedded in Norwegian food practices and to identify ways to promote sustainable meat-use in Norway.

In this part of the project, households are at the center, and we will examine how their food practices contribute to meat consumption, as well as how this is explained and/or justified by various actors. Furthermore, we will investigate which conditions facilitate or make it difficult to reduce meat consumption in Norwegian households.

For the Meatigation project as a whole, sustainability is articulated following the 3Rs of sustainable meat-use:

• R1 Recognising the animals and people working to provide meat
• R2 Replacing animal-based proteins with plant-based, insect-based or in-vitro alternatives
• R3 Refining meat-use to match needs versus wants, reduce waste and malnutrition (e.g., obesity).

MEATigation investigates the 3Rs of sustainable meat-use through data collection with households, farms, retailers, restaurants, and via experimentation with dietary and art-based interventions.

MEATigation has three further secondary objectives, to:

• Deliver sound and usable advice to decision-makers in government and industry on best practices for sustainable meat-use;
• Stimulate public engagement with sustainability and meat, and a methodological meta-objective;
• Pursue responsible research and innovation (RRI), engage private and public stakeholders to produce project outcomes.

Achieving these objectives will get Norway one step closer to reaching its 2030 mitigation goals through meat.

Duration

2020 –2024

Financing

The Research Council of Norway

Cooperation

NTNU, Universitetet i Oslo, Wageningen University, Leeds University, Maastricht University, Southampton University and LSE. 

Industry partners: MENY, Grønne Folk, Myrvangen Gård, Brattlia Økogård, Snerting Ranch, Stammen Café,  Folkekjøkken, Ducky, bioartists Cathrine Kramer and Zackery Denfeld and the pop group Chicks on Speed.