The initiative, which is supported by a collaborative multi-disciplinary and cross-sector taskforce, aims to help the 44% of parents who want help to get their family eating together more frequently.
Veg Power says there are a number of benefits of eating together as a family, including improved nutrition, healthier eating habits and a positive impact on family relationships. Currently 25% of families rarely or never scratch cook at home and less than half of families get their children involved in cooking.
The taskforce includes behaviour change academics, nutrition experts, retailers - Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), chefs, influencers, Government departments including DEFRA and OHID and the parenting resource Netmums.
As part of the initiative, Veg Power’s annual survey of 3,000 parents and primary school aged children will further explore the habits and barriers of family mealtimes. The results will be launched at the ‘Veg Power Summit’ in September 2025.
Dan Parker, chief executive at Veg Power, said: “Our research suggests that families coming together over food may be the single biggest positive influence on children’s diets – combine that with the fact that families would like to be eating together more - and we identified the need to turn our attention to this topic.
“We want to fully understand the human dynamics of families and their food from shopping to cooking to eating so that we can determine how best to support them, utilising all of our experience from our previous campaigns. Together with our talented taskforce who have agreed to get on board with this initiative and help shape its development.”