Wat gaan we eten? Groente! Design workshops

Consumption of fruit and vegetables among 12-18 year olds is well below recommendations. In the Netherlands, this comprises a group of approximately 1.4 million individuals. The health promoting effects of a diet with sufficient fruit and vegetables is well recognized within this group, but it is a “non-issue”. Eating in general does not receive a lot of attention in this group. A variety of private partners is interested to produce vegetable products or put vegetable enriched products onto the market. However, knowledge about attitude and behaviour of the target group with respect to vegetable consumption is lacking. New products often fail to really penetrate the market. In two independent workshops with Food and Product designers, the social environment and the behaviour and attitude of 12-18 year olds with respect to vegetable consumption has been investigated and a start is made to develop products specifically targeted to this group. One of the conclusions is that the school environment often is not stimulating vegetable consumption. There is limited time available, it is often a chaotic moment in time and the physical environment is often insufficient to ensure the required attention for eating. Also most schools are not focussed on healthy eating but are, understandably, more concerned with education. During the workshops a larger number of new concepts have been developed and a selected number has been further developed into possible new products and solutions. The outcome of the workshops provides a source of information and inspiration for the design of vegetable products to be used in future food interventions with private partners.