Abstract
Sustainability is increasingly established as a master frame for transformation in public communication processes and influences social practices, attitudes, and behavior on an individual level by adding value and morality to it (i.e., differentiating "good" from "bad" consumption behavior). The question of how far sustainability is a normative principle, and the Sustainable Development Goals the related normative framework that guides and potentially moralizes food-related decision-making, is explored and answered with empirical data from an exploratory qualitative pilot study. We conducted three series of guideline-based interviews with national and international respondents from Austria (25) and national respondents from Australia (5) and Indonesia (5) to gather information on individual perceptions of food choices and eating behaviors. Interview data was analyzed using inductive category formation (Mayring & Fenzl, 2019). Based on the results of the pilot study, we hypothesize that sustainability is not a defining moment in decision-making, however, has the character of a moral imperative related to a specific eating behavior.
Despite methodological limitations, outlined at the end of the chapter, the research insights challenge existing literature on food consumption and environmental communication, which treats sustainability as a "new" or "normalized," and therefore established, norm and asks for more empirical research on defining non-mediated communicative moments leading to behavior changes.