Researchers have discovered a surprisingly simple way to get people to eat healthier and choose meals with a smaller carbon footprint—just by shuffling the order of the menu.
In a new study from the University of Bristol, the team found that reorganizing a weekly set menu in a university canteen led to diners picking meals that, overall, had about a third lower carbon footprint and less saturated fat.
Crucially, the dishes themselves stayed exactly the same—they were just served on different days. Specifically, the team scheduled the popular but less healthy and less environmentally friendly meals on the same days. Pitting them against each other meant that they were chosen less overall.
“These results are extremely exciting because they demonstrate how simply changing the competition structure within weekly set menus can help steer millions of people towards making choices which have significantly lower carbon emissions and are healthier too,” said paper author and population health scientist professor Richard Martin in a statement.
A stock image of a menu board.
A stock image of a menu board.
Thinglass/iStock / Getty Images Plus
Lead author Dr Annika Flynn called it a “meaty challenge” to change eating habits in ways that benefit both health and the planet.
“The scale of benefits generated by our relatively simple intervention of weekly menu manipulation, which didn’t change the actual dishes or recipes themselves and seemed to go unnoticed, were really surprising,” she said in a statement.
The idea is simple: put high-carbon, high-fat favorites like chicken Kiev and lasagna on the same day, forcing them to compete with each other. That leaves more room for people to pick lower-impact dishes—such as lentil chili or cauliflower curry—on other days. Over the course of a week, this subtle shift steers the group toward greener, healthier eating without anyone feeling restricted.
The experiment, carried out with the University of Bristol’s catering team, used data on meal popularity to create an “optimized” menu rotation. One version reduced the weekly carbon footprint of evening meals by 31.4 percent and saturated fat intake by 11.3 percent. Another cut the carbon footprint by 30 percent, with a smaller drop in fat.
Paper co-author and experimental psychologist professor Jeff Brunstrom explained in a statement: “Our optimized menu featured the same 15 dishes as the original, just reorganized on different days to boost uptake of the more sustainable, healthier options.”
Students didn’t seem to notice the change—and they stayed happy with their food. The researchers also found the potential for extra benefits, like increasing fiber intake by almost 70 percent and reducing land and water use by about a third.
University development chef Alex Sim said vegan and vegetarian dishes are already becoming more popular among students: “Structuring menus to help further promote these choices is a clear win-win. We work hard to make these options really flavorful and nutritious, so it’s great to see them going down so well.”
The University of Bristol is sharing its findings and recipes with other universities, and the team says the approach could work just as well in schools, hospitals, care homes, and workplace canteens.
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Reference
Flynn, A. N., Takahashi, T., Sim, A., & Brunstrom, J. M. (2025). Dish swap across a weekly menu can deliver health and sustainability gains. Nature Food, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01218-8