Opinion: Don’t Judge My Nudge – Why We Need to Rethink Behavioural Shifts for Plant-Based Food
Katie Cantrell, co-founder and CEO of behavioural change non-profit Greener By Default, argues why the food industry needs to rethink its approach to nudging plant-based choices.
Recent publications have rightly drawn attention to the shortfalls of focusing on nudging individual behaviours, rather than systemic changes. Polluting corporations have long used this strategy to deflect blame and regulation, encouraging consumers to self-flagellate over their carbon footprints rather than unite to demand a carbon tax.
As Sonalie Figueiras notes, an overreliance on consumer choice may also be one factor in the recent downturn in plant-based meat sales. Consumer sentiment is fickle and easily influenced by multi-million-dollar disinformation campaigns.
However, the reality is that nudges are already incorporated into most facets of our daily life; they’re just used to maximise profit rather than to benefit people or the planet.
Using nudges for good instead of profit
For instance, restaurants often list dishes with the largest profit margin first in each section of the menu because that placement tends to lead to more orders. Similarly, supermarkets place brightly colored candy at the checkout line because it grabs our attention and often overcomes our willpower.
But what could it look like to use that power for good rather than (or in addition to) profit? A change as simple as putting the plant-based entree before the meat-based entree in the main buffet line can increase the amount of plant-based food served.
Of course, this in and of itself will not end the system of concentrated animal agriculture, but it’s an easy strategy that should be widely embraced alongside the larger fights of changing policies and subsidies.
Furthermore, not all nudges are created equal. Defaults are the king of nudges, more effective than other behavioural interventions. These are the options that people get if they don’t make an active choice.
Tech companies constantly deal in defaults – the settings computers, phones, websites, and apps come with unless you proactively go in and change them. Again, they are usually chosen to maximise profits and other business advantages.
New York City’s hospitals show the way
Hospitals are a potent example of the power of changing defaults to benefit people and planet. Before 2022, on their traditional menu, NYC Health + Hospitals would first offer patients two meat-based daily Chef’s Specials, and patients who were vegetarian could request a plant-based option.
We see this everywhere – meat is the default, and it’s assumed people will only opt out if they are strict vegetarians, which often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Greener by Default worked with NYC Health + Hospitals, the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, and Sodexo to make both daily Chef’s Specials plant-based, and if patients didn’t want either of those, they had meat-based options to choose from.
The Culinary Director, Chef Philip Demaiolo, made sure these specials were delicious, comforting, and culturally relevant. Over the first year and a half, this simple change shifted more than a million meals from meat-based to plant-based, providing patients with delicious, nutrient-dense meals that promote healing, cutting the carbon footprint of their entire foodservice programme by more than a third, and actually saving money in the process.
After seeing the wide-reaching success of the programme, Sodexo worked with Greener by Default to expand plant-based defaults for one meal per day across accounts nationwide, which is expected to transition approximately ten million meals per year from meat-based to plant-based.
Defaults offer a sweet spot between individual and systems-level change. By shifting purchasing policy at an institutional level, the impacts go far beyond individual consumer choice: recent research suggests that defaults can be a promising lever for promoting health equity, as well.
Yet, because food is so deeply personal, changing defaults – rather than mandating fully plant-based menus—is critical to preserve freedom of choice and meet diverse cultural and dietary needs.