As alternative proteins rapidly advance, a major gap persists between product developers and the chefs who will shape public acceptance of these foods.
Chef trainees and educators often lack knowledge, confidence, and exposure to emerging protein innovations, creating barriers to their mainstream adoption and reinforcing inequalities in access to sustainable food options. This research addresses that gap by examining culinary students’ and educators’ attitudes, identifying the factors that support or hinder their use in training kitchens, and co‑creating an educational workshop with colleges and students.
By equipping future chefs - key influencers in food culture - with the skills to work with sustainable proteins, the project supports environmental goals, strengthens innovation uptake, and contributes to a more equitable and resilient food system.
This project fills a major research gap by focusing on chef trainees and educators - groups largely overlooked in alternative protein research despite their central role in shaping food culture and public acceptance. Preliminary findings show educators face significant barriers that prevent them from teaching alternative proteins effectively, including unclear definitions, limited curriculum space, low confidence, product access issues, and inconsistent industry demand.
At the same time, educators express strong interest in teaching these topics but lack practical, aligned tools. By combining a scoping review, surveys, and co‑creative workshops, this project uniquely maps classroom‑to‑sector barriers and develops a chef‑ready teaching module co‑designed with educators. This approach offers new insights into culinary pedagogy and helps equip future chefs to support sustainable, equitable and innovative food system transitions.
Project aims:
This project examines chef trainees’ and educators’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours toward alternative proteins (APs) - including plant‑based, fungal/mycoprotein, precision‑fermented, cultivated, insect and algal options - and addresses the uneven exposure these groups currently have within culinary education. It identifies how APs are understood and taught in training kitchens and uses these insights to co‑create a practical module that builds confidence and supports evidence‑based integration of APs in FE and HE curricula.
Most AP research focuses on technology or consumers, overlooking culinary educators as the “middle actors” who translate new products into meals. Early findings from our scoping review and workshops show barriers such as restrictive awarding‑body requirements, limited curriculum space, inconsistent product access, low staff confidence, mixed student acceptance and unclear AP definitions. Yet educators show strong interest in structured teaching tools that fit vocational contexts.
The project aims to
- generate baseline insights into attitudes, barriers and enablers;
- co‑design a chef‑ready AP teaching module with educators and industry partners; and
- produce an academic output and an industry‑facing report to support wider delivery.
Methods include a scoping review, educator survey and co‑creation workshops across culinary colleges, with thematic analysis and Brunel ethics approval. Expected outputs include a module pack with recipes, templates and product sheets, plus a publication and report.
Preliminary findings highlight opportunities such as train‑the‑trainer approaches, protected CPD time, resource packs, assessment redesign linking theory and practice, and stronger FE–industry partnerships to support AP adoption.
The project contributes to environmental and social goals by helping normalise lower‑impact proteins and broadening access to sustainable food education. It also supports innovation by aligning chef end‑user needs with AP product development and provides the first UK‑focused, educator‑centred evidence base for integrating APs into culinary teaching.
It is led by Brunel University London (Dr Andrea Zick, Dr Shona Paterson), with academic partner City/St George’s (Dr Ximena Schmidt) and industry partner Flourish Food Science (Dr Alexandra Hyde). Funding: NAPIC Networking Award, CPF Round 1, Application ID 180006642930. Dates: 06.10.2025–30.06.2026.