Transforming food consumption by promoting public health and planetary sustainability in a Swedish regional context

Sammanfattning

Current food consumption contributes to a transgression of the planetary boundaries and contributes to the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, globally and in Sweden, which makes a food transformation an urgent issue for planetary and human sustainability. This qualitative case study is based on interviews with employees at Region Gävleborg and explores how the Region can contribute to driving a transition towards healthier and more sustainable food consumption. The study focuses on interviews with employees within public health, healthcare, regional development and environmental sustainability. The study adopts a critical and futures-oriented approach where Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) has been used to find underlying assumptions and beliefs that underpin dominant approaches to the current food system and to identify regenerated alternatives. By exploring alternative future scenarios, dominant assumptions become challenged and new pathways for change envisioned. The analysis shows that a dominant narrative is that food is primarily seen as an individual choice. The study proposes a regenerated narrative, to view food choices as a shared societal responsibility. Findings show that a transformation includes being aware of underlying assumptions because current worldviews create obstacles for enabling a food transformation. A greater understanding of evidence-based knowledge, system-thinking, and holistic perspectives are important factors in transforming food consumption and achieving planetary health.