Thread by @eegarnett89

My first PhD paper is out in @PNASNews! tinyurl.com/y6b4hq9s
⬆️proportion of vegetarian options ⬆️increases vegetarian sales in 3 @Cambridge_Uni cafeterias, especially for the most carnivorous diners.
Retweet&tag your favourite vegetarian/eating-less-meat person. 🍲🍔🥗/1

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni Thank you to the caterers who generously shared time&data. This would have been impossible without you.
Huge thanks to my fantastic co-authors: Andrew Balmford, @MarteauTM, @csandbrook& Mark Pilling.
Thank you to @CamZoology, @cambridge_uccri, & @NERCscience for my funding /2

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience We collected data across 12 in 2017 months comprising >94,000 meal selections, >90% of which we could link to anonymised individual diners.

It’s very unusual to have individual-level data in behavioural field studies this size. /3

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience In Study 1 (observational) doubling vegetarian options increased vegetarian sales by ~60% in cafeteria A, and ~80% in cafeteria B. /4

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience The greatest relative increase in selecting a vegetarian meal was in the “Least vegetarian” quartile of diners (defined using data from before the study).
They're the red line in the graph.

A simple change can nudge even keen meat eaters to eat more vegetarian food. 🥩➡️🍲 /5

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience Study 2: we experimentally altered the number of vegetarian options on offer week by week&saw a 42% increase in sales. In reality may have been higher due to some miscoding.
Serving more veg options didn't greatly affect sales (no change 2/3, small decrease 1/3 colleges) /6

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience Our findings are very encouraging: expanding the range of vegetarian options -without taking meat off the menu - had a large effect on what customers chose to eat.
Caterers are key policy makers for sustainable food provision & mitigating climate change & biodiversity loss. /7

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience If food were the film industry, vegetarian and vegan meals need to land more starring roles, and meat dishes have got to stop hogging the limelight. /8

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience Background on environmental impact of meat here:
theguardian.com/environment/20… /9

@PNASNews @Cambridge_Uni @MarteauTM @csandbrook @CamZoology @cambridge_uccri @NERCscience I have presented my work on nudging vegetarian sales at several conferences: thank you @BritishEcolSoc, @oxfutureoffood #OxLEAP, @Leep_Institute @LEEPin2019, #SCCS2019, for hosting me.

It's finally published! ⬇️
pnas.org/content/early/…
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