The global food system is facing increasing pressure to transition away from animal-based proteins due to environmental, ethical, and health-related concerns. In the Netherlands, this protein transition is gaining momentum, yet remains hindered by deeply rooted consumption patter
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The global food system is facing increasing pressure to transition away from animal-based proteins due to environmental, ethical, and health-related concerns. In the Netherlands, this protein transition is gaining momentum, yet remains hindered by deeply rooted consumption patterns and cultural norms. This project, in collaboration with WWF-NL, investigates how systemic design can support the reduction of animal-based food consumption among Dutch consumers, focusing on the TU Delft campus as a representative context of study. WWF-NL recognizes the urgency of transforming food systems, aligning its strategy with the protein transition to reduce environmental impact and restore biodiversity. Despite public awareness, key challenges persist: policy implementation is slow, market incentives are misaligned, and individual behavior change is difficult to sustain. Drawing from WWF’s own findings, the project explores why conventional interventions, such as awareness campaigns, often fall short and asks: what else is needed to realise meaningful dietary shifts? To answer this, the project frames the transition not just as a behavioral issue, but as a systemic challenge embedded in narratives, routines, and relationships. The research uncovers dominant and counter narratives through interviews, observations, and workshops. These insights are then translated into six systemic barriers that slow down change on campus, including social norms, infrastructural gaps, and emotional disconnection from the food system. These barriers operate across multiple levels and often reinforce each other through feedback loops. In response, this project concludes with a portfolio of seven interventions. Some restructure the food environment to enable more sustainable choices through nudging and increased visibility. Others engage individuals more deeply by fostering reflection, emotional connection, and collective identity. The interventions are intentionally non-prescriptive and adaptable, designed to tap into existing structures and shift them from within. This degrowth-oriented strategy avoids introducing new products or services, focusing instead on redirecting current resources toward supporting the transition. First validations confirmed that the interventions resonate across actors and levels. Students connected through stories, sensory experiences, and shared spaces, while institutional stakeholders valued the alignment with sustainability goals and the practical feasibility of some of the interventions. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, this project aims to start an uncomfortable conversation and open space for experimentation, participation, and narrative change. By guiding consumers through a journey of discovery, unlearning, and letting go, this strategy moves beyond shortterm gains and towards long-term cultural shifts.