Implementing sustainable meals at Norwegian Folk High Schools : a qualitative study of barriers and opportunities

Abstract

Due to health concerns and climate change, a dietary shift towards less meat and more plant-based foods is necessary. More knowledge is needed to make such a dietary shift successfully. This thesis investigates the barriers and opportunities for more sustainable meal servings at Norwegian Folk High Schools, what and how changes have been implemented, in addition to looking at the students' opinions on sustainable diets in general. Four qualitative interviews with staff and two focus group interviews with students were conducted at two Folk High Schools to get in-depth knowledge about their attitudes, opinions, and experiences. The result shows that implementing sustainable menu changes is possible by providing the kitchen staff with sufficient information about the project and allowing them to feel ownership to the changes implemented.

However, the result also indicate that there exist several barriers that prevent the successful implementation of sustainable meal servings: there is a stronger emphasis on local and organic food than on meat reduction and plant-based food, both among employees and students, which could potentially derive from unawareness of meat production's environmental impact. Applying changes with a top-down approach and implementing too many changes in the food offer simultaneously are also considered to hinder successful implementation.

In the future, it is recommend to investigate strategies that can provide staff and students with information about meat production's environmental impact to potentially influence food-related behavior and successfully implement more sustainable meal servings.