{"doi":"10.3389/fpubh.2023.1058859","title":"Furthering nutrition equity through innovative and empathetic collaborations with the restaurant sector: Examples from Latin American restaurants","abstract":"Dietary factors are one of the leading causes of preventable death and disability (1). Successful dietary interventions to address this problem can only be successful when food environments support healthy food choices (2,3). This realization has driven increased interventions and regulation of the retail food environment, which, while mostly focused on markets and outlets for at-home food consumption, has started to target restaurants as sites for regulation (4,5). The focus on restaurants responds to shifts in consumption patterns, where an increased proportion of our food spending has been shifting to foods away from home. Recent data from 2021 shows that the consumption of foods prepared away from home accounts for 55% of food spending among American households, with restaurant meals occurring at least weekly for two-thirds of adults in the United States (6,7).Research addressing foods away from home has highlighted the unhealthful aspect of restaurant offerings through associations between foods purchased at fast foods and increased intakes of saturated fat and sodium (8)(9)(10). Public health initiatives and policies to improve food choices at restaurants have included efforts to restrict choice (ex. trans-fat ban law) or guide choice through pricing schemes, point of sale promotion of healthy options, and providing nutrition information, among others (11). Most of these efforts have targeted chain-based, fast-food restaurants. Emerging research in small, non-chain restaurants demonstrates interventions can be successful at increasing the consumption of healthier options, through point-of-purchase promotion of healthy dishes and increasing the availability of healthier options (12). To fully benefit from the potential of these collaborations, we need a shift in the public health and nutrition fields on how we view and approach restaurants, from places of unhealthy eating to places for creating dietary change. A true partnership with restaurants has the potential to enhance social opportunities for healthier eating, contending against social norms and perceptions where healthier choices are viewed as restrictive, bland, or plainly not enjoyable. These perceptions are an important, yet overlooked barrier, to healthy eating behaviors. Diners prioritize taste and indulgence when dining out and the use of healthy designations actually dissuades customers from ordering these items (13). Labeling food as healthy decreases perceived satiety and influence the perception that healthy items are less filling (14,15).Restaurants are an important part of community food environments, affecting local food availability and access (3,16). Restaurants can serve as vehicles to spread culinary innovations by exposing clients to new ingredients and modes of preparations, with the potential to change perceptions and social norms around eating and cookingchanges that can have a ripple effect on foods eaten at home (17,18). The culinary sector is increasingly involved in initiatives to motivate healthful eating practices as demonstrated in the \"Menus for Change\" report produced by the Culinary Institutes of America, which guides how to provide healthier and more sustainable meals (19). Other examples are found among an increasing number of restaurants, such as Alice Waters' Chez Panisse restaurant, Chef Dan Barber's sustainable approach to cuisine, and Chef Jamie Oliver's attention to healthy meals for school children (20,21). These chefs are promoting menu innovations to bring environmental consciousness to their customers, addressing fashion, health, environmental sustainability, and deliciousness as convergent rather than contradictory values.While these new trends bend towards more healthy and environmentally sustainable offerings, these innovations have largely failed to trickle down to restaurants serving communities experiencing the largest burden of disease from diet-related conditions, as in the case of Hispanic/Latin communities. 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