Enhancing Seasonality Knowledge Through Digital Education: Combining Information Provision and Associative Training to Promote Pro-Environmental Food Choices

This research investigates how to strengthen seasonality knowledge and support in-season food choices. Study 1 examined 317 Italian adults’ knowledge of seasonal foods and its association with self-reported consumption. Study 2 tested whether expository materials and an associative training task improved seasonality knowledge and choices under time pressure. Participants (N = 235) were assigned to a 2 × 2 × 2 full-factorial design manipulating information provision, associative training, and time pressure. Despite the absence of total main effects on seasonal choice, both educational approaches improved seasonality knowledge, which in turn was associated with a higher selection of seasonal products in the simulated shopping task. In addition, the three-way interaction between information, associative training, and time pressure was significant, though close to the conventional significance threshold. Simple-effects analyses indicated that, under time pressure, information provision improved performance only when combined with associative training. At an exploratory two-month follow-up (n = 137), indirect effects of each intervention on self-reported consumption of seasonal vegetables were observed through seasonality knowledge. Moreover, self-reported consumption of exotic or unseasonal fruit was lower among participants in the associative training condition than among those not exposed to this training. Overall, both educational approaches improved seasonality knowledge, whereas evidence of their complementarity for food choice remains preliminary.