Recipe for Change

Beef consumption is a big threat to climate change. Recipe for Change lets people experience how easy it is to cut down on eating beef, to help save the planet.

Long Description

Recipe for Change – a silent strategy to reduce beef consumption

Background
Our current beef consumption is a big threat to climate change. The red meat requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken, 11 times more water and results in five times more climate-warning emissions. Although we need to drastically change our beef-eating behaviour, people don’t like to be told what to do. So instead of telling them to reduce their beef consumption, we come up with a smarter solution.

Recipe for Change
Recipe for Change is a two-phase campaign to let people experience how easy it is to cut down on beef consumption to help save the planet. In the first, silent phase, various partners (TV chefs, supermarkets, food bloggers and restaurants) influence people’s beef-eating habits subconsciously by lowering the amount of beef in their recipes. In the second phase, all partners reveal they have been using less beef.  People are then encouraged to share #RecipeforChange on social media.

The silent phase
We influence people’s beef-eating habits subconsciously by teaming up with different partners. They lower the amount of beef in their recipes. For example, if the normal amount was 500 g, they will now use 300 g. The main goal of this phase is to make sure people don’t notice they are cooking and consuming lesser amounts of beef.
Potential partners:

• Famous tv-chefs (Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, 24 Kitchen)
• Supermarket chains (Tesco, Albert Heijn) to change recipes in their magazines, on their website and on their in-store recipe cards
• Famous Restaurants to change their signature recipes
• Food- and recipe blogs (Allrecipes, BBC Good Food)
• Food magazines (Gourmet, Delicious, Foodies)

The public phase
Three months after starting our secret project, we reveal our recipe to the public with a big PR bang. At a set moment, all partners reveal to their audience they have been using a lowered amount of beef. This way we convince people how easy it is to reduce their beef consumption, simply because they were already doing it.

Feasibility and scalability
Our project is highly feasible because it asks very little from companies and consumers.
All companies need to do is change their recipes, and consumers won’t even have to make an effort at first.
Because beef is consumed, cooked and sold all over the world and in a large variety of places, this project is very scalable as well. We’re not limited to a certain location or partner to execute our project. By using different global partners with a big reach, we aim for PR and behaviour change on a large scale.

Future goals
The first year is fully dedicated to getting the right partners on board and executing our PR-stunt in the best possible way. We focus exclusively on reducing beef in recipes. To make sure #RecipeforChange remains trending on social, we keep thinking of ways to raise awareness, e.g.: publishing a ‘Recipe for Change’ cookbook.
In the following years, we take our project to a next level. Together with our network, we put pressure on other influencers in the food industry (e.g.: multinationals, food & health organizations, political parties). We use our stunt to convince them to take more radical actions. At this stage, we shift from changing recipes to changing portion sizes in packages. Additional goals include ‘beef-free’ labels for restaurants, higher taxes on beef in supermarkets and ultimately a beef-free generation.