Browsing by Subject "ruokapalvelut"
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(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2020)British Food Journal 122 (11), 3313-3329Purpose The critical role of diet in climate change mitigation has raised behavioural approaches to the top of the agenda. In this paper, the authors take a critical look at these behavioural approaches and call for a more dynamic, practice-oriented understanding of long-term changes in sustainable food consumption and supply. Design/methodology/approach This approach is based on the experiences from a long-term experiment promoting sustainable eating in a workplace lunch restaurant using a series of informational and nudging techniques. In the experiment, the authors found that focussing solely on eating behaviours did not help to capture the multi-level change processes mobilised. The authors therefore propose a more dynamic, practice-oriented methodology for examining long-term changes in sustainable eating. The emprical data of the experiment are based on qualitative and quantitative data, consisting of customer survey, customer and kitchen personnel focus group discussions and monitoring data on the use of food items in the restaurant and their climate impacts. Findings The results draw attention to a series of practical challenges restaurants face when promoting sustainable eating. Directing analytical attention to tinkering helped to reveal the tensions brought about by labelling and nudging in menu planning and recipe development. The results show how tinkering required attentiveness to customers' wishes in both cases. Nudging offered more freedom for the restaurant to develop menus and recipes. In the case scrutinised, however, nudging customers towards tastier and more satiating vegetarian dishes included the use of dairy. This partly watered down the climate benefits gained from reduced meat consumption. Originality/value Rather than looking separately at changes in consumer behaviour and in the supply of food, the authors show how we need analytical concepts that enable the evaluation of their mutual evolution. Tinkering can assist us in this endeavour. Its adaptive, adjustive character, however, calls for caution. The development of praxis in food services and catering requires critical companions from the transdisciplinary research community. Research can provide systematic knowledge on the impacts of labels and nudges on kitchen praxis. However, research itself also needs to tinker and learn from experiments. This necessitates long-term speculative research strategies.
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(Suomen ympäristökeskus, 2020)Elintarvike ja Terveys-lehti 4:2020Ruoan tuotannon ja kulutuksen muuttaminen kestävämpään suuntaan on yksi aikamme suurista haasteista. Muutos tarjoaa suomalaisille ruokapalveluille mahdollisuuden nostaa alan arvostusta ja yhteiskunnallista merkitystä. Julkiset ruokapalvelut ovat jo pitkään ohjanneet suomalaisia syömään terveellisesti. Ruokapalveluiden tavoite tasavertaisesta ja tasapainoisesta ravitsemuksesta on tärkeä tavoite myös kestävän syömisen edistämisessä. Uusien ympäristöystävällisten ruokailutapojen opettelu vaatii kuitenkin osallisuuden vahvistamista ja yhteisiä sitovia tavoitteita.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2020)Pro gradu -tutkielmassani tarkastelen sitä, miten kasvisruoka sovitetaan osaksi kouluruokailun käytäntöjä. Tutkin tilannetta, jossa kasvisruoka muutetaan uudistuneiden kouluruokailusuositusten mukaisesti vapaavalintaiseksi kolmessa suomalaisessa yläkoulussa. Tarkastelen kasvisruoan aseman parantamisen nostattamia jännitteitä kouluruokailun ihanteiden välillä sekä ruokapalveluhenkilöstön ratkaisuyrityksiä syntyneiden jännitteiden sovittelemiseksi. Arvioin myös ratkaisuyritysten muutospotentiaalia: uusintavatko ne vanhoja käytäntöjä vai mahdollistavatko kouluruokailun muuttumisen kasvispainotteisemmaksi? Tutkielmani viitekehys rakentuu terveys- ja hyvinvointitutkija Annemarie Molin ruokakäytäntöjen kompleksisuutta käsittelevän tutkimuksen varaan. Vapaavalintaisen kasvisruoan tuominen osaksi kouluruokailua vaatii lukuisia pieniä korjaustoimenpiteitä vanhoissa toimintatavoissa. Samalla ruokapalveluhenkilöstö sovittaa arkisessa tekemisessä yhteen kouluruokailun erilaisia ja usein keskenään ristiriitaisia ihanteita. Hyvä ruoka on aina kompromissi, joka vaatii herkkyyttä ihanteiden välisten jännitteiden tunnistamiselle. Tulosteni mukaan kasvisruokailun edistäminen nostatti jännitteen kasvispainotteisuuden ja ruoan alkuperän huomioimisen välille. Erityisesti maaseudulla ruokapalveluhenkilöstön huolena oli se, että kasvisruoka vähentää kotimaisten raaka-aineiden käyttöä. Kasvisruoalle etsittiin paikka sujuvuuden ihannetta vaalien, jolloin kasvispainotteisuuden edistämisestä joustettiin. Myös ruoan syödyksi tuleminen ja hävikin minimointi olivat ihanteita, joista ruokapalveluhenkilöstö ei ollut valmis tinkimään kasvispainotteisuuden edistämiseksi. Useimmat ruokapalveluhenkilöstön ratkaisuyrityksistä ennemmin ylläpitivät kouluruokailun nykyisiä käytäntöjä kuin onnistuivat murtamaan niitä. Aineisto kuitenkin paljasti myös ratkaisuja, jotka saattavat mahdollistaa käytäntöjen muuttumisen kasvispainotteisemmaksi. Tällaisia olivat esimerkiksi kasvisruoan asemointi mausteisemmaksi vaihtoehdoksi. Tutkielmani keskeisenä johtopäätöksenä on, että kouluruokailun käytäntöjen muutos vaatii kasvispainotteisuuden hivuttamista käytäntöihin päättäväisesti mutta kaiken aikaa syntyviä jännitteitä havainnoiden. Huomion kiinnittyminen liiaksi vain yhteen ihanteeseen voi johtaa kouluruokailun kokonaisuuden kannalta kehnoon lopputulokseen.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2016)Introduction: Information about toddlers’ and pre-schoolers special diets in Finland is scarce. Out of Finnish 1-6-year olds, 63 % attend day care. According to the day care food recommendations, 2/3 of the daily energy needs of children attending full-time day care should be provided during day care hours, which should also fulfil the set nutritional and quality criteria. The day care food services are facing more challenges due to food allergies, and also due to the number of children following religious diets increasing as an effect of increased immigration. Some food allergy-related avoidance diets may be unfoundedly maintained, since children usually recover quickly from food allergies. Aims: The aim of this study was to decipher the prevalence and types of special diets children in the metropolitan area day care centres adhere to, and to investigate what kind of challenges are associated with the general practices considering the apprising of special diets. Additionally, this study aimed to investigate the distribution of special diets in relation to age, gender and city. This study also intended to examine whether a connection between the prevalence of special diets by day care centre and regional socioeconomic factors exists. Material and methods: The cross-sectional data was collected from municipally catered day care centres in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa during 2012-2013. 41 day care centres with in total 3 216 children were included in the study. Data of children adhering to special diets was retrieved from special diet-forms, medical certificates and kitchens. Children were divided into different special diet groups based on the reported data. Special diet distributions among other variables were studied with the Pearson Chi square-test. The relation of socioeconomic factors and the prevalence of special diets were tested with the Spearman bivariate correlation analysis. This study is a part of the LILLA-study, which aims to improve the nutrition and allergy-related health of pre- schoolers. Results: Out of the 3 216 children 19 % (n=609) adhered to a special diet. The discovered diets and their prevalences were the following: allergy-related 7,4 % (n=238), lactose-restricted 3,3 % (n=105), ethical or religious diets 7,6 % (n=245), and special diets for other reasons 0,7% (n=21), of the total. A difference was discovered in the special diet distribution according to city (p<0,000): allergy-related diets were most prevalent in Vantaa and ethical or religious diets in Helsinki. A difference was also discovered in the age distribution of special diets (p<0,012): children following an allergy-related diet were younger than children with other special diets (p<0,041). Also, avoiding dairy and egg was discovered to be more common among younger children (p<0,048 and p<0,043). The most often avoided foodstuffs among allergy diets were milk, egg, nuts and almond, and fruit. Lactose-restrictions were more common among older children (p<0,006) and the most prevalent lactose-restriction was a complete restriction. Among ethical or religious diets, diets where pork was forbidden were the most common. Of vegetarian diets, pesco-vegetarian diets were discovered to be the most common. Ethical or religious diets were positively associated with lactose- restricted diets (p<0,000). Special diet-forms required to notify day care centres about special diets were found for 71 % (n=431) of participant following special diets. Medical certificates were found in 53 % (n=156) of the diets where a certificate was demanded. Out-dated information was found in both types of documentation. A reversed connection was discovered in the association between the prevalence of ethical or religious diets and income by day care region (p<0,015, r=-0,379). Conclusions: A fifth of the children in municipal day care centres adhered to a special diet. The most frequent special diets were allergy-related and diets based on ethical decisions or religious beliefs. Allergy diets were mainly exercised in Vantaa and ethical or religious diets in Helsinki. Allergy-related diets were more common among younger and lactose-restricted diets among older children. Ethical or religious diets were associated with lower income. Based on this study, it seems like there is a need for improvements considering the general practices related to special diet apprising in day care centres. Further research about the differences in general practises implemented by each city is ought to be carried out.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2020)Background and the aim of the study: Based on previous literature, the cooperation between catering workers and early childhood educators is essential for providing special diets and food education activities in day-care centres. This cooperation is scarcely studied. Furthermore, while some research has been conducted in the school environment, the perceptions and roles of catering workers on food education have not been previously studied in the early education environment. Therefore, this thesis aimed to examine how catering workers and early childhood educators perceive their cooperation and to observe their dynamic in the day-care environment. Additionally, the aim was to explore what perceptions catering workers and early childhood educators have on food education, their role as food educators, and the relationship that children have with catering workers and the kitchen. Material and methods: The study was qualitative by design with an ethnographic emphasis. Observation and interview data were collected from four day-care centres in the Pirkanmaa region. In each day-care centre, data was collected for two days by observing a group mealtime and interaction moments between catering workers and early childhood educators. Mealtime observations were recorded using a form developed based on the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) -tool. The children in the mealtime observation groups were mainly 2-5 -years old, though one group of 1-3 -years old was also studied. Besides observations, two interviews were conducted in each day-care centre: one with a catering worker and the other with an early childhood educator. Interviews (n=8) were performed as thematic interviews. Interview and observation data were combined in the analysis phase. The analysis was data-based content analysis. Symbolic interaction theory was used as a guide in data collection and as a reflection point for the results. Results and conclusion: Early childhood educators strongly emphasised mealtime related topics and the children’s role in food education during interviews. There were slight differences between early childhood educators´ descriptions of food education, which were similarly reflected in mealtime observations. Catering workers emphasised the properties of food and food appreciation more often than early childhood educators. Catering workers and early childhood educators experienced their cooperation to be rather good, though perceptions on what good collaboration included differed. Staff interactions were subject to constant change and cooperation was unique to each day-care centre. Data analysis from both observation and interviews revealed “the symbols of cooperation” as a common theme, which was divided into four categories: 1) flexible interpretation of the service contract, 2) staff parties, 3) a shared break room, and 4) an open kitchen door. Catering workers and early childhood educators considered children to perceive catering workers divergent from other adults but not unfamiliar. The kitchen was considered a place that interested children but remained a somewhat unfamiliar and forbidden place for them. Results provide new insight for the perceived and observed cooperation between catering workers and early childhood educators and their perceptions about food education. Despite the potential for cooperation and food education, childrens’ relationship with catering workers was described to be distant and, therefore, provides opportunity for further studies.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2015)Aims. Lunch in educations institutions has a big role in daily nutrition and health maintenance as it could be the only warm meal of the day. The purpose of this study, which has been made in co-operation with UniCafe restaurants, is to describe which factors have the most influence on students choices of restaurant and food, the corresponding selection criteria and how the lunch selection could be improved. The knowledge based on this study can help the restaurants to allocate more suitable lunch selections between campuses and customer types. The theoretical background is based on two food choice models Shepherd & Sparks (1994) and Furst ym. (1996). In this study, food choice is treated as a step-by-step process, starting from choosing the restaurant until the whole meal is on the tray. Methods. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews involving 37 university students from three different campuses (Kumpula, Meilahti and Ruskeasuo). Participants' age ranged between 20-32 years. In addition another data set which was collected through UniCafe customer satisfaction inquiry at the end of 2014 has been used. All gathered data was analyzed by using content analysis. Results and conclusions. Student restaurants were favored because of affordable prices and location nearby the campus. More than a third of the students checked the menu in ad-vance and started the food choice process already before the arrival to the restaurant. The appearance of food, taste and price were the most important benchmarks of the food choice. Also well-being had been an important factor on food choice. For example by having a coffee after the lunch many students tried to better cope and focus during the day. Dessert has been seen as a kind of reward meal for example after completing an exam. Also the level of hunger and amount of physical activity had an influence on food choice.Half of the participants told that sometimes lunch companion influence their food choices. Students in Meilahti and Ruskeasuo preferred fish dishes whereas in Kumpula they paid attention to meal prices. These were the most significant differences between the campuses. While studying the possible improvements of lunch selection its showed that in general student were satisfied with the offered selection. The biggest areas of improvement were seasoning, variation of selection and focusing on protein content, especially in vegetarian meals.As a result of this study six different customer profiles had been identified: ecological selectors, selectors that want to get filled, price-conscious selectors, selectors focused on well-being and demanding customers. These identified profiles can help the restaurants to allocate more suitable lunch selections between campuses and customer types.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2022)Background: Food systems and diets affect both human health and the environment. As dietary behaviour adopted in childhood often track to adulthood, the meals served in daycare centres offer a good opportunity for promoting healthy and climate-friendly eating habits in both short- and long-term. Objectives: As part of the FoodStep project, the objectives of this study were to examine compliance with the food-level recommendations, nutrient content per child and climate impacts of the conventional menus in Finnish daycare centers, as well as the potential changes in the compliance with the food-level recommendations, nutrient content per child and climate impacts of the FoodStep menus, modified towards more plant-based diet. Methods: Menus, recipes, and planned portion sizes were used to create hypothetical food diaries, representing the planned foods per child during a full-day daycare. Nutrient calculations were performed for conventional menus and modified FoodStep menus for four Finnish municipalities. Climate impacts of the same meals were calculated at Natural Resources Institute of Finland. Results: In the conventional menus, food-level serving frequency recommendations were not met for several food groups, but the compliance was clearly improved in the modified FoodStep menus in all the municipalities. At nutrient-level, the issues in the two menus were similar in every municipality: compared to the recommendations for daycares, too low proportion of energy was derived from fat and too high from protein. In addition, the planned salt supplies were excessive. The planned supplies of energy and micronutrients fulfilled the recommendations with the only exception of iron in the conventional menu of one municipality. In three of the four municipalities, the FoodStep menu modifications led to markedly reduced climate impacts. Conclusions: More focus in daycare menu planning would be needed to meet both the food- and nutrient-level recommendations. Moderate modifications of the conventional daycare menus – increasing vegetables, fruits, and berries, and sustainable fish species and decreasing meat and dairy products – can improve the compliance with the food-level recommendations and decrease the climate impacts of the menus without negative effects on the nutrient supplies.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2017)The role of public catering services in nutrition policy and health promotion is of great significance. Local procurement and meal choices that meet dietary recommendations can improve food security. The origin of food in public procurement or the relationship of dietary recommendations and the meals being served have not been examined on a national level. The purpose of this study was to find out how much local food (national produce) is being offered in public catering services. In addition, we wanted to examine how the food being served met dietary recommendations. Factors related to serving local food and to meeting dietary recommendations were examined as well. The cross-sectional study was carried out as an online survey (n=295). In all, 118 representatives of public catering services responded to the survey. The online form was comprised of three parts: Back ground factors, local food procurement rate and dietary recommendations. Numerical results were saved and basic parameters were determined with Excel 2016 and SPSS 23 programs. The dependence of variables was examined with cross tabs and Chi-square test. Open questions and their answers were themed. The amount of local procurement among milk and meat products and eggs was high (> 90 %) in most (75−89 %) of the public catering services. Grains excluding rice were mostly (82 % of respondents) procured locally. The origin of procurement of fresh fish, berries and vegetables varied. High quality, safety, availability, good logistics and procurement contracts enhanced local procurement. Price was not mentioned as the main limiting factor to local procurement. Regarding red meat, 31 % of respondents reported having decreased its use as meal ingredient. The supply of red meat had decreased most in towns (p≤0,05). The average amount of red meat of all procured meat was 46 % (SD 22 %). Supplying red meat was more frequent in countryside public catering units than in towns (p=0,004). In all 66 % of respondents reported having increased serving vegetables at meals. The use of plant-based protein was still rare. Sharing information, product availability and easy-to-use recipes were reported as factors enhancing the use of plant-based protein. Taste preferences, attitudes and low supply of easy-to-use food products were regarded as limiting factors to plant-based protein use. Public catering services value highly local procurement but due to low availability, low supply of easy-to-use products or inefficient procurement contracts achieving high local procurement rate is sometimes challenging. The use of plant-based protein as ingredient in meals can be promoted by effective communicative and instructive measures and improving both product availability and supply of easy-to-use food products.
