After obtaining his masters in Consumer Studies in Wageningen in 2014, Jos van den Puttelaar started working at Wageningen Economic Research. Prior to his masters’ trajectory, he had already completed a college degree in Food & Business and had working experience as a food technologist for a multinational. ‘I always valued sustainability, both as a researcher as personally. Now that I have a son, I have come to realise even more how important it is that we change our eating pattern and reduce its impact on climate, nature and environment. Not much is needed to change that, jus tour own behaviour. That, however, is quite a challenge. There is so much we don’t yet know, so there is plenty of research still to be done. I believe it would be good to collaborate with the food industry towards more sustainability. The government is not a food producer, so we will have to involve the business sector.’
Switching to a healthier, more sustainable diet is difficult. In this corona crisis, consumers are buying more fruit, vegetables and organic or locally produced food. What is their motivation, and will this change persist in the long run? Do people who work from home snack more frequently? Wageningen consumer scientists…