More meat-free meals on the menu can therefore convince even non-vegetarians.

Scientists and experts are increasingly advocating eating less meat. Changing dietary patterns – and in particular moderating our meat consumption – has major benefits, both for your health and for the planet. But how do you get even the avid meat eater to the broccoli? Pretty easy, it turns out.

Human and nature

We’ve known for a while that cutting back on meat is better for our health and the environment. Food is responsible for 20 to 35 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. More than half of that comes from meat and dairy. “Meat is therefore the largest food source that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions,” researcher Rachel Pechey said. Scientias.nl.

Meat industry

At present, much precious farmland is being sacrificed to the meat industry. And that leaves a significant mark on our climate. The current meat industry generates a lot of greenhouse gases and thus contributes to global warming. Acid rain, deforestation, climate change, land degradation and the loss of biodiversity are all consequences of our intensive livestock farming. But it can also be different. Because if we were to switch to a more plant-based diet, important ecosystems that absorb CO2 could recover.

In addition to the negative consequences for our planet, eating a lot of meat is also unhealthy. “For example, if you eat a lot of red and processed meat, you increase the risk of various diseases,” Pechey continues. Consider, for example, cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer. This increases the chance that you will die prematurely.

Study

It means that eating less meat offers a lot of benefits. But how do you get meat lovers to give up their steak and opt for a vegetarian meal? In a new study researchers figured it out. The first experiment took place in a cafeteria at the University of Oxford. Here the team decided to change the food offering from one vegetarian and two meat dishes to one meat and two vegetarian meals. This simple change immediately paid off: meat meal sales even fell by almost 20 percent (from 58.2 percent to 38.7 percent).

Meat-free meals

In a second experiment, 18 cafeterias in various workplaces – including warehouses, production sites and offices – across England were also forced to make use of it. Here ‘meatless Mondays’ were introduced and the number of vegetarian options on the menu expanded. After eight weeks, the researchers discovered that the number of vegetarian orders had also increased here. And also an online experiment, conducted among non-vegetarians only, showed that more and more people opted for a meat-free meal when offered.

More meat-free options

The researchers conclude that it is quite easy to make even the meat eater eat vegetarian. Because by simply adding more meat-free options to the menu, the number of people who choose this increases significantly.

Obvious?

On the one hand, that may seem a little obvious. “The more meat-free options available, the more likely you’ll find a dish you like,” Pechey admits. “On the other hand, in countries where meat consumption is high, there are strong social and cultural norms regarding meat consumption. For example, meat is considered there as ‘necessary, natural, normal and tasty’. This could lead to people continuing to choose meat. In addition, during our research in cafeterias, we found that chefs were sometimes wary of adding more vegetarian meals to the menu because they feared they would not please their customers. Our study suggests that some of these barriers may be related to just the perception of how people might respond to more meat-free options, rather than how people actually respond.”

Meat eater chooses vegetarian

Indeed, because the researchers discovered that many meat eaters now opted for vegetable. Something that doesn’t really surprise Pechey. “There is an emerging trend of people wanting to eat less meat,” she says. “This may be partly related to growing environmental concerns, as well as, of course, health concerns. Most meat substitutes, such as meatless burgers, are eaten by meat eaters and not by vegans or vegetarians. We therefore expected that the choice of meat-free options in our study would also increase among non-vegetarians.”

It’s getting more and more normal

Moreover, vegetarian meals are becoming more common. In the supermarket you can now choose from a whole shelf of meat substitutes, both for dinner and for bread. And that can also convince many non-vegetarians. “By increasing the number of vegetarian dishes, you also indicate that choosing a vegetarian meal is more common in a cafeteria or restaurant,” says Pechey. “For example, if only one of the four options is plant-based, this can be seen as the option intended for vegetarians. If half of those four dishes are vegetarian, it suggests that vegetarian dishes in general are more popular, rather than just a niche choice.”

The researchers show with their study that expanding meat-free options is a simple and promising way to reduce meat consumption. But Pechey doesn’t want to let go of the subject just yet. “We hope to conduct more experiments to further test the effectiveness of increasing the availability of vegetarian dishes,” she says. “In addition, we want to explore the potential barriers for chefs trying to make such a shift. But so far, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that expanding vegetarian options is a promising approach that could make it easier for many people to eat less meat.”