Thursday, April 16, 2026
Our eating patterns and what we eat largely determine our health. But what is healthy eating? And how do we make it easily accessible to everyone? Sparking a love for plant-based and healthy food while simultaneously creating economic opportunities for Zuid-Holland that is the goal of the Medical Delta Program ‘CUPIDO’.
CUPIDO stands for ‘Community-up plant-based innovations for healthy diets and new business opportunities’. Medical Delta CUPIDO focuses on a systems approach that structurally changes the food environment, particularly for young people, so that healthy and plant-based choices become natural, available, and affordable.
The big question is: how do we ensure that young people make healthier food choices on their own? The so-called ‘Food Boost Challenge’, developed in collaboration with the Medical Delta Living Lab ‘Vitality Implementation and Technology (VIT) for Life’, puts this question directly to the target group. The result is that for nearly five years now, successful ideas and concepts have been generated by young people, for young people.
Medical Delta CUPIDO builds on this experience and brings together all relevant stakeholders for healthier eating patterns through ‘community-up’ research and innovation.
One of the consortium partners is Natasja van der Lely, who works as Program Manager Health at Greenport West-Holland. We spoke with her at the greenhouses of Koppert Cress in the Westland region. “The most creative ideas emerge precisely from the different perspectives and backgrounds.”
This interview is the tenth in a series with practice partners from the transdisciplinary Medical Delta programs and living labs.
How are you involved as a practice partner in the Medical Delta Program CUPIDO?
“I work, among other things, as program Manager Health at the network organization Greenport West-Holland, and I am also involved at Koppert Cress in similar themes related to health and innovation. From these organizations, we aim to give healthy nutrition a clear place within prevention policy.
A few years ago, we were invited by Wendy Scholtes-Bos and Machteld van Lieshout from The Hague University of Applied Sciences and the Medical Delta Living Lab VIT for Life to participate in the Food Boost Challenge. The topic and approach of the Food Boost Challenge are very close to us: from Greenport West-Holland as well, we try to involve all relevant stakeholders as early as possible.
The step from the Food Boost Challenge to involvement in the Medical Delta program CUPIDO was very logical. CUPIDO aims to support the shift from care to health with innovative food concepts and to contribute to a system change. That makes it essential to collaborate closely with all relevant stakeholders.
Greenport West-Holland plays a connecting and facilitating role in this, among other things by involving its network. You could see the CUPIDO program as a realization of the strong collaboration that already existed through the Food Boost Challenge.”
You recently also received funding from the Healthy Society Program to scale up 'the new lunch culture.' What does this involve?
“The Province of Zuid-Holland has developed a food vision, which is also reflected in the Delta Action Agenda published by Medical Delta last year. This aligns well with a movement that has been underway for some time: ‘The New Lunch Culture.’
The idea for the New Lunch Culture originated when Rob Baan of Koppert Cress wanted to offer his employees a healthy, vegetable-rich lunch. According to the Dutch Tax Authority, 80% tax had to be paid on this. When the lunch was classified as taxable income and an additional tax assessment followed, a legal procedure arose that went all the way to the Supreme Court. This opened the door and sparked a movement toward a different lunch culture in the Netherlands, in which employers support their employees in eating more healthily at work.
Our cost-benefit analyses show that a healthy lunch at work leads to measurable health gains and lower sickness and absenteeism costs. With the funding from the Healthy Society program, we are now scaling up this approach in South Holland, particularly within healthcare institutions and in sectors with high absenteeism and a strong need for a healthier food environment.
To make this happen, you need the entire system. It involves collective labor agreements, health insurers, caterers, everything is interconnected. More than sixty partners are now involved. What started as an idea has grown into a broad, nationwide movement. And that is exactly what is needed to achieve systemic change.”
What experiences from the Food Boost Challenge and Medical Delta CUPIDO are you applying here?
“The main takeaway is the approach: ‘community-up,’ as reflected in the CUPIDO acronym. This essentially comes down to demand-driven development and innovation.
We work with organizations ranging from 30 to 30,000 employees that want to offer healthier lunches, some are already quite advanced, while others are just getting started. They differ, but at the same time they share many of the same questions, such as: how do I get my employees on board? How do I organize this with the caterer, and where does it fit within the organization? How do I ensure a healthy, tasty, and affordable offering, and how do I incorporate that into procurement and contracts? We mainly want to learn what organizations encounter in practice, so we can use that insight to work toward system-level breakthroughs that help move this transition forward.
Community-up means that it’s not just the employer deciding what happens, but that you do it together with the people and parties involved. From the outset, we incorporate the input and wishes of, among others, caterers and employees into the programs aimed at creating a different lunch culture within their organizations.
It is valuable to work with target groups where we know the health challenges are greater
This can sometimes be challenging, especially in places where healthy eating is less self-evident, such as social workplaces, where people often have less to spend. Precisely there lies a huge opportunity. It is valuable to work with target groups where we know the health challenges are greater, because that’s where you can truly make a difference.”
How does the demand-driven approach translate into research?
“What’s particular is that within Medical Delta CUPIDO, we essentially reverse the usual process. Typically, you first conduct research, then apply it, and finally assess whether it is successful. In the Food Boost Challenge and The New Lunch Culture, it starts with practice. We see that it works, and then use research to understand why it works and where the leverage points are, so we can scale it up in a targeted way.
Research therefore takes on a different role than usual. That is truly to the credit of the scientists involved in Medical Delta CUPIDO. Through cost-benefit analyses, we have calculated the business case. With more in-depth research, we aim to better understand and validate where the effects actually come from: which elements make the difference, for whom, and under what conditions.
We are now moving toward smarter scaling. The Hague University of Applied Sciences is researching how we can best apply this in different contexts and for different target groups, so that we can scale it in a targeted way and translate it into an approach that can be standardized and applied more broadly.”
Which experiences from these community-up projects are also relevant for other research programs?
“The demand-driven approach is something that can certainly be applied more broadly. I think this is especially true for living labs. The shift from care to health, so, placing more emphasis on prevention, simply cannot be achieved through a top-down approach alone. You need real-world practice for that. And you have to look beyond your own bubble: collaborate and actively involve others.
When it comes to food choices, much of people’s behavior is unconscious. Simply sharing knowledge, telling people what is healthy or unhealthy, is not enough. The greatest impact lies in the food environment, and in shaping it in such a way that the healthy choice becomes the easy and logical choice.
That is where change happens: demand-driven, through new collaborations, products, and innovations that do not yet exist today
But even then, you’re not there yet. The real challenge lies in the supply chain. That’s where there is still a lot to gain. The LUMC, for example, is a great partner and a true frontrunner. They are working on structurally procuring healthier, more local, and more sustainable food, partly within the framework of the Green Deal on Sustainable Healthcare. In practice, they find that these goals do not always naturally align. Is local always more sustainable, for instance? And how do you ensure that healthy, affordable, and accessible truly come together?
With questions like these, emerging from Medical Delta CUPIDO, the Food Boost Challenge and The New Lunch Culture, we mobilize stakeholders across the entire chain, from agriculture and horticulture to suppliers, procurement, and logistics. That is where change happens: demand-driven, through new collaborations, products, and innovations that do not yet exist today.”
Is that the innovative aspect of the program?
“You could say that, yes. Innovation within Medical Delta CUPIDO is not so much about technology, although high-tech innovation in horticulture can certainly play a major accelerating role. The real innovation lies in social innovation and value chain innovation: how do you initiate a cultural shift? How do you connect different domains? In that respect, the Healthy Society program and Medical Delta truly play a leading role. I think that’s pretty bold.”
Doesn’t a healthy lunch create resistance among people who prefer something like a ‘kroket’-sandwich?
“To start with, we’re not the ‘kroket’ police, haha. There will always be resistance. But that’s exactly one of the reasons why we take this demand-driven approach. The ambition differs from one organization to another, and there needs to be room for that. We see ourselves as a kind of guide, working within existing guidelines, but especially translating them into practical application on the work floor.
In fact, the cheese sandwich you bring from home and eat behind your laptop is just as persistent a habit as the croquette. In the Netherlands, we simply don’t really have a strong lunch culture compared to other countries. For example, we eat far too few vegetables. But it’s not just about what’s on your plate, it’s also about the moment itself: taking a break, eating together, talking to each other. That is at least as important and also affects how people feel at work.
There will always be resistance. The question is how much energy you want to invest in that.
We mainly focus on the group that is willing to move forward and make sure they learn from each other. Ultimately, the goal is for a vegetable-rich, relaxed, and social lunch to become the norm in the workplace, with people gradually making healthier choices step by step.”
How can you deal with this resistance?
“Catering staff are on the front line. They receive the reactions, the questions, the resistance. It starts with listening to the people who are there every day. What do they see happening? What works? And then sharing those examples. Don’t make it too complicated. It doesn’t always have to be about ‘health.’ It’s simply tasty, right?
One participant said: ‘you convince people with a smile. And if you have an opinion, you should also taste it. It’s exactly that trying things out that makes it so valuable.’ And that’s how it works. We often think in terms of resistance and hassle, while the real question is: how do we make healthy food tasty and appealing?”
‘Commerce’ is also part of the CUPIDO acronym. Why was that included in the program?
“There are many commercial parties whose mission includes healthy nutrition and prevention. These organizations can have a lot of impact, but they face challenges because the revenue models within our (healthcare) system are still more focused on ‘treatment’ than on ‘prevention.’
Impact-driven companies are often the ones that make the real difference in practice
You can see a shift starting to happen, which is encouraging. But it’s still not happening fast enough. Within science, subsidies, and funding bodies, we should be much less hesitant toward commercial parties. Impact-driven companies are often the ones that make the real difference in practice. Ultimately, impactful initiatives from out the Food Boost Challenge and like The New Lunch Culture should be able to operate without grants and subsidies. We are working hard on that by searching for sustainably viable, scalable revenue models.”
Within Medical Delta CUPIDO, very diverse parties collaborate. How does that work?
“When you work from a shared mission, it doesn’t really matter which world you come from, understanding follows naturally. We all have our roles. Collaborating with other parties and having direct contact with the target group, as in the Food Boost Challenge, leads to new ideas and, above all, a lot of energy.
In the Food Boost Challenge, all levels of education were involved from the start: vocational education, universities of applied sciences, and universities (mbo, hbo, wo, ed.) but also but also vmbo, havo and vwo (secondary school programs, ed.). In the project groups, everyone works together across these levels, which leads to very strong results. The most creative ideas arise precisely from the different perspectives and backgrounds. Within CUPIDO and The New Lunch Culture, we need everyone: empirical-analytical research, practice-oriented research, and practical application to make it scalable.”
Based on your experience, what would you like to share with the Medical Delta community? “Building on my previous answer: engage in dialogue with your partners, step outside your building, step out of your bubble, and hold on to the shared mission, healthy people. You always gain something valuable from the conversations you have with others.
I really enjoy attending Medical Delta events because it’s such a broad community. My message would be: make use of that.”
Photo’s: Guido Benschop
Text: Sietse Pots
