Living Lab Hungary

Hungarian households’ healthy and sustainable food consumption

Main Focus and Objectives

The Hungarian Living Lab aims to empower citizens to adopt healthy, sustainable food practices at home. It will engage diverse households, especially families, combining the skills of different generations—IT skills from younger members and food management skills from older ones. This collaborative learning process will promote family-wide participation. The goal is to support sustainable and healthy diets through smart tools, addressing household needs and promoting behavioural change through citizen engagement.

Region Background and Challenges

The Hungarian LL will draw on the experiences of the PLAN’EAT project. According to the results of the Hungarian LL in PLAN’EAT, more than one-third (36.3%) of the surveyed respondents do not share evening meals together as a family. It was also observed that consumers feel they would require more money (85.4%), more time (28%), and more willpower (21.3%) to adhere to a healthier diet. In addition, household food consumption is often not a sustainable practice. According to the research of the National Food Chain Safety Office, 59 kg/person of food waste is generated annually only in Hungarian households, of which 24 kg could be avoided with more conscious consumer behaviour.

LL Actors, Target Groups and Methodology

The Living Lab will involve a broad range of stakeholders, including families, nutrition experts, healthcare providers, educational organizations, and research communities. A co-creation and participatory evaluation approach will help tailor the tools to users’ needs and challenges. The panel will be selected based on criteria reflecting the target population, including geographic, socioeconomic, and household characteristics. Maintaining participant engagement will be a key challenge. The Living Lab will prioritise real-life environments, co-creation, and continuous feedback to test the WiseFood applications. Evaluation