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Interconnected Solution Streams
Institutional food environments have a mandate to feed a lot of people well. Food with Benefits prioritizes food environment design for sustainability by gathering the best expertise and evidence from government, industry, public institutions, and chefs, food service professionals, health professionals, researchers, citizens, along with the voice of future generations, along with philanthropic organizations, insurance, and food suppliers.
In fact, if institutional food environments used their size and the scope of their reach, they would be the strongest levers to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth (Willett et al., 2019). If we fail to shift to planetary health menus, we will fail to achieve international climate and health goals.
Food is the most delicious lever for change and it can only happen with people of influence coming to the table together to solve what seems like intractable problems. FwB strategies are amplifying the evidence and incorporating four solution streams where experts can guide actions for the best and quickest pathways to PHM.
01
Measurement & Co-Benefits
Define and track key performance indicators (KPI) and quality improvement (QI) linking culture change and food environment outcomes to nutrition/health, equity, economic, and environmental. Incorporating measurement into current reporting practices guards against increasing workload and builds upon sustainability, economic, and nutrition / health goals.
02
Institutional Change
Foster culture change through readiness assessments, leadership training, and peer learning fostered by early adopters. Increase institutional engagement with helpful toolkits. We offer webinar series, coaching on institutional change, and illuminate success stories to scale up more successes.
03
Sustainable Procurement
Support chefs, procurement officers, and supply chains in sourcing Canadian-grown, plant-based foods, and developing resilient regional systems, and improving food sovereignty.
04
Accelerated Adoption
Communicate co-benefits, share success stories, and engage more institutions (300+) and the public to normalize Planetary Health Menus and Canada’s Food Guide. We are highlighting the success stories of 30 partner institutions and producing toolkits on choice architecture, default design, and food environment enhancements for use by many more public institutions. We envision that by 2035, PHM will be prioritized and normalized in 1000 public institutions in Canada.
Proven Approaches
Harnessing the Power of Defaults
Easy and successful approaches that institutions are using to enhance their food offerings and to meet their goals is to design food environments around delicious, nourishing food that include defaulting to planetary health meals. When institutions make the sustainable option the default and alluring option, this improves uptake by 40% of foods that nourish human and planetary health while reducing animal-based foods consumption all while preserving freedom of choice.
Our Values
Food with Benefits
FwB grows out of fertile values of: fairness, consciousness, deliciousness, impact, pride, nourishment, compassion, economic and environmental sustainability, and collaboration. We freely share our growing collection of educational content, as we support and amplify the many changemakers advancing this critical work. This is a living space for sharing insights, links, and actions that accelerate shifts in food environments from the inside out and the outside in.
Prioritizing well-being and normalizing plant-based foods in Canadian public institutions.
Imagination by showcasing examples of institutions leading and delicious gains possible with sustainable diets & plant-forward food environments.
Engagement and expand this growing community of practice.
Uptake of plant-forward approaches in institutions and food service.
Reductions in harms and prioritizing sustainable diets.
Around measuring progress and ripple effects.