Source record
It's not easy eating green: the language of sustainable diets
(2020). World Resources Institute, Better Buying Lab.
Key findings
- Dishes labelled 'meat-free' performed poorly against almost every alternative name tested.
- Naming a dish for what is absent triggers loss aversion and gets in the way of imagining how it tastes.
- Field trials with restaurant partners found renaming alone shifted selection.
Record
- Source type
- Report
- Study type
- Randomised Controlled Trial
- Topics
- Menus & catering
- Geography
- United Kingdom and United States
- Funding & conflicts
- Conducted with commercial food-service partners.
- Source quality
- Moderate evidenceConsistent findings across several trials, but partner-run and less fully reported than peer-reviewed work.
Limitations
- Industry-partnered work with a stake in the result; trial reporting is less complete than a journal would require.
- Effect sizes vary considerably by dish and setting.
Claims this source supports
EnvironmentModerate evidence
Naming a dish for its flavour rather than for what it lacks or for its health properties increases how often it is chosen, with the food unchanged.
Yes. Identically prepared vegetables were chosen 41% more often under a flavour label than a health-restrictive one, and 'meat-free' performed worse than almost every alternative tested.