Digital Food Provisioning in a Time of Multiple Crises: An Introduction

This opening chapter emphasises the critical role of food in sustainable transitions and highlights the need to comprehend the novel dynamics of consumption and waste resulting from the adoption of digital technologies, particularly in the domestic sphere. Despite the surge in online food purchases, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a dearth of empirical studies investigating the impact of digital technologies and online food delivery services on food consumption. Consequently, it remains challenging to determine whether these innovations offer genuine opportunities to promote sustainable diets and how viable it is to expand these alternatives across various contexts. After this preliminary discussion, the chapter provides a detailed overview of the PLATEFORMS project, which forms the basis of the contributions in this volume, discussing its methodology and key findings. The chapter concludes by introducing the contents of the nine chapters included in the book.