What type of food does the Flemish population consume? Where do they buy it? What influences them when making food choices? And how can these choices be steered towards healthier eating patterns? That is what The Great Food Map (De Grote Voedselkaart) aims to investigate.
This research project examines our food environment: the physical, economic, political, and socio-cultural context in which we make our food choices. The project aims to raise awareness about the influence of food environments and stimulate actions to make healthy choices more accessible.
This happens through a citizen science project in which an app and website play a central role. Users can collect data about their food environment, and this information is shared with policymakers and other stakeholders to implement improvements.
Our food choices are not based solely on personal preference; they are strongly influenced by the environment in which we live. A food environment encompasses the context in which our dietary choices are shaped. Sustainable and healthy food environments are characterised by the good availability, accessibility, affordability, and visibility of healthy and sustainable food.
The Flemish food environment influences what we eat, and this environment increasingly makes it easier to consume unhealthy, calorie-rich food. Adapting food environments to stimulate healthier and more sustainable choices is complex because these environments vary greatly from one area to area.
Urban and rural environments, as well as the preferences of different population groups, require tailored solutions. Moreover, involving citizens in this process is essential, but recruiting and keeping participants engaged in data collection through crowdsourcing remains a challenge.
Food environments also have important cultural and social significance. Over the past decades, the food environment has changed in such way that it has become increasingly easy to consume unhealthy, calorie-rich food.
This is why this project maps food environments and explores ways to adapt these environments to make healthier and more sustainable choices easier. Rikolto involves young people in this project through an app that helps them collect data on their food choices and the food environment around their schools. During various workshops, young people have provided input on the design and content of the app to ensure it is engaging and useful for them. By involving young people, the project hopes to encourage them to actively use the app.
The app offers three main functionalities. First, users can input their perception of the food environment and their behaviour. Secondly, they receive feedback on how this compares to other Flemish people. Finally, they can provide feedback to supermarkets, school cafeterias, and other players in the food system about how they experience specific settings.
The app forms the citizen science component of this research. Every inhabitant living in Flanders from the age of 16 can participate. If many citizens in Flanders contribute, we will gain insight into how healthy and sustainable food choices can be encouraged.
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The results on behaviour and perception are summarised per municipality, neighbourhood, type of setting… and are shared back with citizens and (local) actors in the food system through the interactive website, the app, HOPLR, VVSG, and the Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
Based on the results, we will identify concrete case studies in collaboration with cities and municipalities, food companies and short-chain initiatives. Together with them, we aim to develop actions to improve the food environment for specific target groups and settings. These actions need to consider the solutions proposed by citizens through the app, as well as the relevant food deals and strategic objectives of the Flemish food strategy.
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