Toward a Plant-Based Future? Contested Imaginaries of Sustainability Transition in Denmark’s Agriculture and Food System.

While recent years have seen a surge in plant-based food alternatives, such as “fake meat” and lab-grown alternative proteins, the need to drastically reduce animal production, prompted by the imminent threat of climate collapse, remains a key policy challenge.

This project revolves around contested imaginaries of plant-based future of food and competing assessments of the role of technologies in substituting animal protein with plant-based sources of food.

Over a period of twelve months, I engage in ethnographic research in professional contexts to explore how Danish food manufacturers, food activists and policy-makers navigate the intricate challenge of influencing the transition.

The overarching aim of this research is threefold: 1) to uncover how deeply ingrained social norms and culture surrounding animal consumption impact the development of new plant-based food technologies, 2) to examine how these emerging technologies shape key transition actors’ visions and strategies for the animal-to-plant-based transition, and 3) to investigate how the visions of technological food innovation impact the policy trajectory of the sustainability transformation of Denmark’s food system.

Through this comprehensive inquiry, I aim to shed light on the multifaceted dynamics underlying the shift towards a plant-based food system and contribute to public information regarding decision-making in the area of agriculture and food.