New Planetary Plate Puzzle fosters deliberation on sustainable diets
Human relationships with food are complex, evoking various values, attitudes, memories, and emotions. Defensive reactions are common when food-related beliefs and habits are challenged. Conversations around food choice often dissolve into polarized debates, leaving little room for different views.
Researchers at the University of Helsinki and the Finnish Environment Institute have developed a serious game called the Planetary Plate Puzzle, that allows participants from diverse backgrounds, viewpoints, and dietary preferences to engage in discussions around co-designing culturally acceptable sustainable future diets. The goal is to jointly create a diet for an average citizen in 2050. Anyone can use, distribute and translate the game to other language and cultural contexts as well.
The game was tested in research settings and later multiple events around Finland.
"Initially, people felt a bit tense because their past experiences with food discussions had been quite heated. However, the game guides you to focus on a common goal, and in the end, no one felt challenged because of their own dietary choices or views", comments, Kaisa Kurki, one of the researchers.
The dialogue created by the Planetary Plate Puzzle offers a refreshing contrast to typical heated debates on such issues as meat versus vegetarian diets, traditional versus modern eating practices.
“The serious game holds promise for supporting education and awareness on sustainability, breaking down barriers of difference in opinion, and improving collective decision-making within respective cultural contexts”, foresees, Minna Kaljonen, research professor from the Finnish Environment Institute.
"People are more likely to commit to change when they have a role in the conversation, Kurki reminds.
The Planetary Plate Puzzle has been developed as part of the Sustainable Niche for Farmed Animals in Food System research project funded by the Academy of Finland.
