5 take-home messages from Antje Gonera
About a hundred people gathered in late February to learn about trends towards more sustainable diets at Aller Matseminar in Oslo. Here are 5 take-home messages from Antje Gonera’s presentation. She is a senior scientist at Nofima and leads WP5 in FoodProFuture.
1) 0.1 % = 90 % !
There are over 20,000 different edible plant species in the world. 20 of these account for 90 percent of what is eaten.
2) Lack of raw materials
Today, raw materials are not sufficiently available in Norway. Changes need to be made for the possibilities to grow protein rich crops in Norway (e.g. peas, beans, oats, rapeseed…).
3) Norway imports in abundance
A result of the lack of raw materials is that few plant-based products sold in Norway are indeed produced in Norway.
4) Zero meat, but plenty of salt
A survey from England shows that many of the meat copy products have a salt content that exceeds the nutritional recommendations. «Are we replacing one problem with another?» asks Antje Gonera.
5) Expose people to what to eat, don’t just tell them about it
Most people are skeptical of e.g. the meat copies, and many do not know that the products exist. «We simply have to expose people to what to eat, not just tell them what to eat or not to eat,» says Gonera. FoodProFuture has positive experiences with this from the future food scenario events at #EatTheFuture. We will most likely host another event in June. Stay tuned!
Photos from the seminar (all photos: Wenche Aale Hægermark)
