NAME: Francesca Allievi
NATIONALITY: Italian
PROJECT: Double Pyramid – From Theory to Food Label
People hear about climate change and dietary health issues every day, and new tools such as the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition’s Double Pyramid have found a link between healthy diets and environmental sustainability. Despite this data, many people still do not see the relationships among health, environmental problems and their daily choices. Francesca Allievi saw an opportunity to change that by transforming the Double Pyramid into a food label, encouraging consumers to think more responsibly, eat better and act better.
The BCFN Double Pyramid already serves as an effective tool for presenting information on nutrition and environmental impact, but it is not available where it would make the biggest difference—in the supermarkets where most Europeans buy their food. Italy, Allievi’s home country, is one of the top-five European consumers of meat, a habit that is destructive both to Italians’ health and the environment.
To support the behavioral changes needed to shift Italy and other countries to a more plant-based diet, Allievi proposes simplifying the overall content of the Double Pyramid and adding arrows that indicate a product’s nutritional value and environmental impact. This labelling would be similar to the European Union energy label, now used for household appliances and cars. Starting with small-scale implementation on a few of the most problematic foods, including certain meats, Allevi’s proposed label gives consumers simple, comprehensive and useful information about their food choices.
