Meal selection when plant-based food is presented as the default for a catered event

Current food consumption patterns are unsustainable and will prevent humanity from staying within established boundaries for anthropogenic change. Behavioral change is a potentially high impact strategy for staying within boundaries. The goal of our work was to explore the effectiveness of a plant-based default in increasing plant-based meal consumption. Data collection was performed at a catered event on a college campus. Eligibility of individual participants included being 18 years or older and an invitation to RSVP for an enrolled event. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the control group received a RSVP form that presented a meat meal as the default catering option whereas the intervention group received a form that presented a plant-based meal as the default. The primary outcome of interest in each group was the proportion of participants who selected plant-based meals.当前的食品消费模式不可持续，将使人类无法恪守人为活动影响的既定边界之内。行为改变是维持在该边界内的一种潜在高影响力策略。本研究旨在探究以植物基（plant-based）餐食作为默认选项的设置，在提升植物基餐食消费量方面的有效性。数据采集工作在大学校园内的一场包办餐饮活动中完成。个体参与者的纳入标准为：年满18周岁，且受邀对已报名的活动进行回复确认（RSVP）。参与者被随机分配至两组：对照组收到的RSVP表单将肉食餐食设为默认餐饮选项，而干预组收到的表单则将植物基餐食设为默认选项。两组的核心关注结局指标均为选择植物基餐食的参与者占比。