The American College of Greece (ACG) campus, with its tree-lined pathways, neoclassical architecture, and the quiet hum of intellectual life, had the privilege of welcoming partners from across Europe for the LIKE-A-PRO Consortium Meeting M42, held on 22–23 April 2026. The event was hosted by the The American College of Greece Research Center (ACG-RC) via the Center of Excellence in Food, Tourism & Leisure (CoEFTL) and co-organized with CNTA.
What Is LIKE-A-PRO?
LIKE-A-PRO is a Horizon Europe-funded project with a mission to help transform Europe’s food system towards greater sustainability by unlocking the potential of alternative protein (AP) sources. The project brings together an international consortium of research institutions, industry stakeholders, and consumer engagement specialists across Europe, all working in concert to develop innovative, sustainable, and healthy food products based on alternative proteins (from plant-based and fermented sources to insect and microbial proteins) while simultaneously understanding and influencing how European consumers make their food choices.
Consortium Meetings are held every six months, gathering all project partners to take stock of progress, share findings across Work Packages (WPs), and align on next steps. The M42 meeting marked one of the final and most substantive gatherings in the project’s lifecycle, with the full consortium convening in Athens for two days of structured WP sessions, cross-cutting discussions, and collaborative planning.
Two Days of Progress, Insight, and Collaboration
The two-day agenda was structured around updates from the project’s core Work Packages, each presenting progress on their respective objectives and, crucially, outlining the road ahead. What became evident throughout both days was just how deeply interconnected the project’s workstreams are: data, findings, and innovations developed in one WP consistently feed into and enrich the work of others, creating a genuinely integrated research ecosystem.
On the scientific and product development front, the consortium heard encouraging updates on both ingredient processing and product formulation. Among the most noteworthy highlights for stakeholders interested in food innovation: microbial protein and rapeseed protein emerged as top-performing ingredients in terms of protein quality assessment, while the range of food formats being developed (spanning meat and fish analogues, hybrid meat products, powdered supplements, and convenience foods) demonstrated the remarkable versatility of alternative protein sources. The work is well advanced, with production already being scaled up for specific products following successful pilot trials.
Across all WPs, discussions were productive and forward-looking. Partners engaged in substantive exchanges, and the meeting reinforced the spirit of collaboration that has defined the LIKE-A-PRO project from its outset. With 70% of project deliverables already submitted and 100% of project milestones reached, the consortium reflected a project in strong health, on track, and delivering on its promises.
WP4 in Focus: Living Labs and Behavioral Insights at Scale
A WP in which the ACG-RC and CoEFTL are active contributors is Work Package 4 (WP4): Food Environment Citizens Innovation Living Labs, coordinated by the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP, Germany). Its objective is understanding how real European consumers navigate food choices in their everyday environments. WP4 set out to explore food environments through the lens of European citizens, uncover the most influential behavioral determinants driving (or hindering) the shift towards healthier and more sustainable dietary patterns, and co-design effective strategies to facilitate that shift.
By the time of the Athens meeting, all Living Lab (LL) iterations had been successfully concluded across all 11 partner countries; Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and Italy. Approximately 3,000 citizens participated in Living Labs that explored four distinct choice architecture frameworks:
- choice editing (LL1)
- choice expansion (LL2)
- choice environment (LL3), and
- beyond choice (LL4)
These provided a rich, multidimensional picture of consumer behavior across diverse European contexts. Going one step further, the project also conducted four medium-to-large-scale behavioral intervention pilots in real food environments, reaching an impressive approximately 25,850 citizens. These pilots moved beyond self-reported attitudes and into the realm of observed, real-world behavior to help understand how people actually interact with food environments. The ACG-RC was responsible for the choice editing pilot, which was successfully concluded in November 2025.
With this substantial body of data in hand, the next steps for WP4 center on translating insights into scientific publications, contributing to the growing academic literature on sustainable food behavior and alternative protein adoption.
A Taste of Greece: Cooking, Culture, and Connection
No visit to Athens under the auspices of a center dedicated to Food, Tourism & Leisure would be complete without a moment of genuine cultural immersion. On the evening of Day 1, consortium participants were treated to a social dinner woven together with an interactive cooking class.
In the spirit of Greece’s rich culinary heritage, participants rolled up their sleeves and learned to prepare some of the country’s most beloved traditional delicacies. By engaging directly with the preparation of dishes, learning the techniques, the ingredients, the stories behind them, participants gained a far deeper appreciation of Greek culinary traditions than a meal alone could offer. And when the time came to sit down and taste the fruits of their labor, the food was all the more meaningful for having been made with their own hands.
With Gratitude
A gathering of this scale and ambition does not come together without considerable effort and dedication behind the scenes. The ACG-RC and CoEFTL extend their warmest and most sincere thanks to Morena Silvestrini, Project Coordinator, for her outstanding leadership in steering this meeting and the broader project with clarity, energy, and purpose.
On the hosting side, the smooth running of the M42 meeting in Athens was made possible by the commitment and hard work of the ACG-RC team: Toula Perrea, Athanasios Krystallis, Polymeros Chrysochou, and Stavroula Ziavras. It was a genuine joy to open the doors of ACG to the LIKE-A-PRO consortium and to share, even briefly, the warmth of Athens and the College’s unique spirit with partners from across the continent.
The next physical consortium meeting, which will also be the final gathering of the LIKE-A-PRO project, will be organized by CNTA and will take place in Spain. With the project in such strong shape and so much valuable work still to be shared with the world, all partners have much to look forward to.
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For more information about the LIKE-A-PRO project, please visit the
