PI: Germano Glufke Reis

Date Awarded: December 2024 (FSRF 2024-08-31-2(2))

Executive Summary (from final report):

This report presents the findings of a project funded by the Food Systems Innovation Fund that explored how Transformative Learning can support dietary shifts toward alternative proteins. Using focus groups, the study examined how disorienting dilemmas—emotional and cognitive challenges to existing assumptions—can prompt critical reflection and activate initiatives to change food-related attitudes and behaviors. Using a series of structured focus groups, the research applied transformative learning principles to engage participants with disorienting dilemmas related to animal suffering, environmental impacts, and health risks of meat consumption. Through guided reflection and dialogue, participants expressed emotional discomfort, questioned personal values, and began to explore plant-based alternatives, demonstrating early signs of perspective transformation.

Key findings indicate that:

• Emotional engagement is a powerful lever for reflection, with participants expressing moral conflict, discomfort, and curiosity about meat alternatives.

• Disorienting dilemmas effectively prompted questioning of normalized dietary habits and encouraged participants to articulate new food-related intentions.

• Multiple paths to behavior change were observed, including gradual meat reduction, increased openness to plant-based analogs, and efforts to influence family food choices.

• Transformative learning occurred both individually and collectively, suggesting that safe, peer-based dialogues can amplify impact.

• Practical barriers (e.g., price, availability, sensory expectations) remain significant, but participants expressed a willingness to reconsider habits when emotional and reflective pathways were activated.

Key priority actions:

• Support emotionally and ethically resonant public campaigns that challenge dominant food narratives.

• Embed sustainability and food ethics into formal education using participatory and critical methods.

• Facilitate experiential learning through sensory engagement (e.g., tastings) and community dialogue.

• Implement policy incentives and institutional reforms that increase access to alternative proteins. • Reinforce food identity shifts through storytelling, advocacy, and supportive social networks.

Reposted from: Glufke Reis, G., Neres Nunes, M., dos Santos Costa, G., & Barbosa de Oliveira da Silva, M (2025). Transforming eating habits: Applying transformative learning theory to promote alternative proteins in Brazil.

Further Information: The project pre-registration, research materials, and final paper are available on the Open Science Framework. The full report can also be downloaded here.