we make about food every day, according to a 2007 Cornell

University study.

The physical and symbolic environment

in which we make these decisions is called choice architecture,

a phrase coined in 2008 by behavioural economists Richard

Thaler and Cass Sunstein.

Adjustments to choice architecture encourage people

towards certain behaviours, that's nudge theory.

The smell of baking in a supermarket and sweets

by the checkout, these are nudges.

But can nudging be harnessed to promote food sustainability?

In 2012, a study at Indiana University

showed that by removing trays from the student canteen

and reducing the surface area for diners to fill,

18 per cent less food was wasted.

Language can have an impact.

For plant-based meals, the words,

'meat-free', and 'vegan' may signal a social identity that

many don't aspire to.

Recent trials conducted by the World Resources Institute

found that when Sainsbury's meat-free sausage and mash was

renamed Cumberland spiced veggie sausages and mash,

sales increased by 76 per cent.

But critics of consumer nudging say

it avoids tackling the hole in the food chain.

The UK's Behavioural Insights Team,

a government backed company that uses psychology to try

to change public behaviour, is looking at double nudges to be

introduced through policy.

These would be aimed at consumers,

yet also encourage businesses to change.

An example of this is the UK's 2018 sugar tax on soft drinks.

Customers have to pay the tax, but as a result,

companies dropped the sugar content of their drinks

by almost 30 per cent per 100 mil to keep prices down.

The supermarket sustainability rating system

could function in a similar way and is being considered

by Behavioural Insights.

It would give food retailers a clear overall sustainability

score so consumers would only need to make one sustainability

decision over where to shop instead of considering

each individual product.

Subconsciously, people are more receptive to habit alterations

in times of upheaval, as the world

is experiencing right now due to the coronavirus.

For that reason behavioural scientists

see this moment as a potentially exciting window for change.