The Role of Local Seasonal Foods in Enhancing Sustainable Food Consumption: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This article aims to review the current literature pertaining to the effects of eating local seasonal food on sustainable consumption. To this end, we examined definitions of seasonal and local food, the methodological approaches adopted to study the impact of seasonal consumption on sustainability, and sustainability dimensions investigated in journal articles. Highlighting what seasonal and local means, it is crucial to evaluate the effect of the consumption of these foods on sustainability. A systematic review of the literature was conducted using Scopus and Clarivate’s Web of Science database in line with the recommendations from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Our findings suggest that the concept of local seasonality provides relevant information to the study of sustainable consumption. However, for better use of this concept, it is crucial to define what is local. At this point, regulation of labels based on geographic proximity or political boundaries proves pertinent.

Consumer Choice for Milk and Dairy in Romania: Does Income Really Have an Influence?

“…However, most of them are part of multinational chains which adapt their production to suite their different local markets and more, and the local origin of the fresh milk is not guaranteed by the factory location. The potential of local production may be extracted from the multiple mentions from the respondents of small local producers as the preferred sources for milk and dairy, being in line with previous studies [38,76].…”

“…Regarding the notion of sustainable food, the FAO [34] envisions it as food that is nutritious and accessible for everyone, while natural resources are managed to support the current and future human needs. Otherwise, there are different accepted characteristics that can make a food product recognized as sustainable, such as plant-based [35] or insect-based [36], with a less meat-based composition [37], seasonal food [38,39], locally grown and produced food [39], and organic food [40]. Additionally, there are a series of accepted barriers to consuming sustainable food.…”

What Drives the Choice of Local Seasonal Food? Analysis of the Importance of Different Key Motives

“…As our study could not identify the relevance of motives related to environmental sustainability but to economic sustainability (expressed by the support of local farmers through local and seasonal food consumption), we recommend policymakers to adopt a holistic concept of local food. Embracing a "local seasonal food" concept can, according to Vargas et al [28], force methodological approaches that address additional layers of sustainability, further allowing more concrete results to foster sustainable consumption.…”

“…To our knowledge, studies evaluating the motives underlying the valuation of seasonality in combination with aspects related to origin are scarce. Most research focuses on specific and singular sustainability-related food options [28]. The few studies which combine different sustainability-related aspects (i.e., local and organic production) assessed consumer preferences for the different options by means of a choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis [5,29].…”

“…Researchers such as Lazzarini et al [32] and Aldaya et al [33], among others, emphasize that a focus on local food alone is insufficient to reduce environmental impacts. Consequentially, to reduce environmental impacts regarding the primary energy use (PEU) [30] and water use [31], it is relevant to consider both locality and seasonality in the food choice [28,33]. With this study, we thus want to bridge this research gap and identify which motives are relevant to drive a consumer's preference for and choices of food that is local compared to food that is both local and in-season (and thus more environmentally sustainable).…”