Fifteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

In this paper, we present the findings of a research project (Care4Food, funded by La Caixa), which analyzed individual choices and perceptions of food security, health, and sustainability. Specifically, this study explored different factors that shaped the food system in Portugal, from individual behavior to national policy, to analyze the drivers of food-related changes. The study adopted a quantitative multilevel analysis inspired by the socio-ecological behavioral model and utilized data from 1,800 household surveys (2024), along with indirect data from statistical censuses and land use/land cover information (2021). The objective was to identify which factors—food security, food habits, policy awareness, and the socio-spatial environment, among others—best predicted changes in food choices in response to climate change and sustainability awareness. Methods such as ordinal regression and latent class analysis were used. The findings suggest that: climate change awareness strongly influenced food habit changes. Buying local encouraged food habit changes. Mobility (walking or driving) increased the likelihood of changing food habits. Higher food prices discouraged changes in food habits. Living in a food desert made food habit changes more challenging. Based on these insights, three groups of individuals/territories were identified to propose recommendations for public policies, particularly spatial development policies.