Biodiverse dining – Supporting the global food system
With all the different cuisines, recipes, and brands available on the market, it seems our option for food is endless. However, a study shows that, globally, 75% of our food comes from just 12 plants and 5 animal species. Suddenly, we realize that there’s not a lot of diversity in our food source and how it may be threatened by things like disease, pests, and climate change.
As more people pay attention to the sustainability of our planet, conversations about the future of our food have become more serious over the past years. New food innovations and movements – like lab-grown meat and plant-based meat – are starting to boom in the market. But like any other new and upcoming innovations, it takes time for people to become accustomed, and for the high-tech ones to actually make an impact on the future of our food.
There are some other options that require less technology and may be easier for consumers to accept – like organic products, free-range, and maybe one of the oldest concepts: food biodiversity.
Biodiverse dining
Biodiverse dining offers more resilience to our global food system. It utilizes a vast array of ingredients, but especially food products that are considered neglected and underutilized. For instance, biodiversity has introduced consumers to many exotic ingredients such as moringa, a nutrient-dense superfood from Southeast Asia and fonio, a drought-resistant ancient grain from West Africa.
With biodiverse dining, consumers achieve a sense of dietary diversity – a more varied food experience, wider cultural identity from using local ingredients, and good and balanced nutrition.
Supporting food biodiversity
As part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), biodiversity has gained a lot of support. For instance, during the 2020 for 2020 campaign, chefs from across the world came together to showcase and inspire a biodiverse way of cooking and eating through their restaurants and recipes.
Another form of support – farmers from the northern Netherlands supply their milk for Weide Weelde with pride. The brand itself strongly supports biodiversity, starting from donating 2 eurocents from each pack sold towards nature management projects.
Why is this interesting?
Conversations on biodiverse dining have been around for a couple of years. With consumers expanding their appetites to encompass global flavours and as they are becoming more aware of global sustainability, now may be the right time to double down on this trend.
The question now would be: how far has this actually been reflected in our current market and food system? Just because it is the right thing to do, is it enough to get consumers to adopt it in their daily lives?
As food trends continue to develop, it is crucial for food manufacturers and providers to understand their impact on consumers’ behaviour and avoid making a wrong strategic move.
ADK Insights continuously monitors trends in the food industry, providing insights to help businesses future-proof their innovation. To know more about our experience and see what it could mean for your business, please contact Rob, Nimrod or Dam.