Shaping professional identity for sustainability. Evidence in Finnish public catering

Summary

Catering for sustainability is often presented as a legitimate perspective for caterers to promote more
equitable economic development locally and across distances through food procurement, integrated
with environmental protection and concern for thewelfare of customers and staff. Caterers are thus seen
as agents responsible for sustainable food systems within their reach. This paper explores how public
caterers use their position and productive intelligence in promoting a sustainable food system within the
power field of their contextual networks. This article crystallises this ‘agency for sustainability’ as
professional identity for sustainability, the shaping of which is analysed in Finnish public catering. The
paper identifies eased and positive, troubled and critical as well as delimited and distancing approaches
for sustainability, with respective views and efforts for sustainable food systems. The shaping of
professional identity for sustainability could serve as co-operative platform for future contextual
developments towards more sustainable food systems. Such progress could result in better alignment
with political guidelines for sustainability and caterers’ satisfaction due to their heightened professional
position reaching beyond ‘kitchen walls’ to construct everyday sustainability.