ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security
This article is part of the Research TopicBeyond The Buzz: Monitoring Food Systems And Navigating Trade-Offs And Synergies For A Sustainable FutureView all 4 articles
Normative facets of transitioning food systems
Provisionally accepted
- 1National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- 2Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- 3Hebrew University of Jerusalem School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel
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Food systems are complex systems shaped by social, economic, political and environmental influences. The multi-level perspective (MLP), adopted from transition studies and examines system change as embedded in society, has been influential in food system studies. Yet its lack of normativity may limit its utility for guiding complex food system transitions. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that integrates normative directionality and interrelations of system transitions. The framework uses five analytical elements to identify system change dynamics: normative orientations, process drivers, emerging patterns, conflicts (trade-offs) and synergies. We interviewed Israeli food researchers and practitioners to examine normative orientations in Israel's transition to a sustainable food system, unpacking its normative contestations, normative gaps, multi-directionalities, and normative stalemates. This paper then identifies conflicts and synergies in a broader set of normative goals explored in the study, and harnesses them towards more holistic food policymaking.
Keywords: food system transitions, Normative orientations, multi-level perspective, synergies, trade-offs
Received: 17 Jun 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Soh, Feitelson and Berry. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Emily Soh, emily.y.soh@gmail.com
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