HAK: ‘Vegetables make everyone happy’

The Netherlands dangles with an average of 134 grams at the bottom of the European lists of daily vegetable consumption. That is just over half of the recommended amount of 250 grams/day. The experts are more than unanimous about the fact that we should eat more vegetables every day and that it is good for our health and planet. But how difficult (or simple) is it to actually eat a little more of it within your own weekly meal routines? With a brand new consumer campaign, HAK is taking the lead in tackling our social vegetable consumption problem in an accessible way. Together with the traditional Dutch chef Herman den Blijker, HAK shows the Netherlands how every meal in the weekly menu simply makes you happy with vegetables and beans. And as the consumer is accustomed to: with a HAK wink.

A lot of research has already been done and is known about the reasons and barriers why people still don't eat enough vegetables and legumes. It varies from 'I'm stuck in a routine, I don't know how to make it tasty, to I don't have enough time for it'. The new HAK campaign shows in an inspiring and light-hearted way how easy it is to enrich recognisable dishes from the existing weekly menu with vegetables and/or legumes.

"And that's super easy and to be happy about", says Nicole Freid, Director Marketing and Innovation. "That's why we take up the weekly meal routines in the Netherlands and show how easy it is to break down the barriers that regularly cause us to eat too little (or no) vegetables".

The weekly menu of the Netherlands 

The consumer's routine consists of a menu of only 6-10 dishes that are eaten regularly. Incidentally, the Dutchman's weekly menu has changed a lot in recent years. Although an AGV meal (Potatoes Vegetables, Meat) can still be found in 80% of the Dutch weekly menu, Pasta (no. 2; 62%) and Salad (no. 3; 60%) are on the rise. The growth of Mexican meals/Wrap in our weekly diet is also striking; it is especially popular with young families. No less than 57% of them eat at least 1x Mexican meal every two weeks (source previous data: No Ties). Mexican is therefore the fastest growing meal in the supermarket (source: IRI).

However, it is often these new emerging meals that contain relatively less vegetables. For this reason, pasta, Mexican dishes and salads are the recognizable starting point in the campaign to quickly and easily add some extra vegetables and/or legumes. Freid: "Our popular stand-up pouches with vegetables and beans (including lentils, chickpeas, various dishes and salad enrichers) are perfectly suited for this and fit in perfectly with the trend of 'Het Nieuwe Eten. HAK hopes that in this way everyone will be stimulated to provide their meal from the weekly menu with (extra) vegetables and/or beans in an easy way.

Popularizing instead of peddling

With the new campaign HAK wants to stimulate in an accessible way to eat more vegetables. "We don't want to change what people eat and tell them that they should eat more vegetables and legumes. Because the pedantic little finger doesn't work. Unfortunately, in recent years we have not made much progress with this in the Netherlands; daily vegetable consumption continues to fluctuate around 130/135 grams per day. So we choose a light-hearted way with tasty, healthy and colourful solutions that are in line with the existing routine of the weekly menu and contain a lot of vegetables and beans. In this way we popularize eating more vegetables and legumes".