The food industry has an incredible challenge ahead to help millions of consumers around the world change their behaviors for the health of the planet, says Electrolux CEO Jonas Samuelson.
In the second round-up from our Future Sustainable Kitchen event which took place virtually last week, Samuelson said: “It’s really quite scary when we see how our daily behaviors as consumers are pushing the planet. It’s an incredible challenge we have in front of us which requires a complete change in how we as consumers live our lives.”
The event brought together experts from across the food ecosystem to discuss how to make sustainable eating the preferred choice. Samuelson said the ecosystem must work together to achieve this and added that sustainable eating needs to be made both enjoyable and easy. “If it’s not enjoyable, if it’s not easy, then we are not going to make an impact, as we are all living busy lives”.
Collaboration was a key theme at the event. Electrolux announced a new partnership with the smart recipe platform SideChef and the largest global network of culinary arts and hotel management institutes Le Cordon Bleu to help making sustainable cooking easier and tastier. It means with the purchase of a smart steam oven from Electrolux, users will get 12 months free SideChef premium content and exclusive step-by-step video recipes from Le Cordon Bleu. The SideChef app will automatically send the optimal oven settings for the recipe to the Electrolux smart steam oven, so home cooks can confidently take steps towards making sustainable eating the preferred choice.
The event also highlighted the new co.food program of which Electrolux is one of the three co-founders alongside Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize and Zentis, one of Europe’s leading fruit processors. Launched in January 2021, the aim is to create food solutions through collaboration and collective intelligence to shift eating patterns towards a healthier and more sustainable diet.
“Since food is a major battleground of the pandemic landscape and in the fight against climate change, we launched an international ecosystem to translate our strategy into real, concrete and innovative change and breaking the silos in the food system,” said Fleur Parnet, Head of co.food.
Meanwhile, the kitchen looks set for a major transformation according to Electrolux Europe Head of Design Simon Bradford as he presented a teaser of what the sustainable kitchen of the future could look like with new ways to store food and new cooking techniques. More to follow on this later in the year …
About the Future Sustainable Kitchen
The Future Sustainable Kitchen took place on 22 March, bringing together experts from across the food ecosystem including kitchen specialists, grocers, food tech start-ups, NGOs and chefs to discuss how we can all work together to make sustainable eating the preferred choice. More details about the event can be found here.
Making sustainable eating the preferred choice by 2030
Making sustainable eating the preferred choice by 2030 is one of the areas we are working on as part of our For the Better 2030 sustainability framework. It’s also one of the four Better Living Program ambitious targets To find out more, visit the Better Living Program website here.
