Go the Whole Nine Yards? How Extent of Meat Restriction Impacts Individual Dietary Experience

Ecol Food Nutr. 2020 Jul-Aug;59(4):436-458. doi: 10.1080/03670244.2020.1737043. Epub 2020 Mar 11.

Abstract

This study examined three meat-restricted diets (N = 865)-a vegetarian diet, a reduced-meat diet, and a chicken-free diet-with a focus on the differences in lived dietary experiences operationalized using measures such as satisfaction with food-related life and the theory of planned behavior. The data comes from an online survey of a census-balanced sample of 30,000+ U.S. residents. The findings showed that meat reducers are a larger group than suspected and that there was a statistically significant difference in dietary experiences with vegetarians reporting better experiences with their diet. This research speaks to how the type of meat restriction impacts lived experiences.

Keywords: Vegetarian; chicken avoidance; dietary experiences; meat reduction; sociology of food.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Animals
  • Chickens
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Diet / psychology*
  • Diet Therapy / classification*
  • Diet Therapy / psychology*
  • Diet, Vegetarian / psychology*
  • Female
  • Food Preferences / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Meat
  • Middle Aged
  • Personal Satisfaction
  • Prevalence
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States / epidemiology
  • Young Adult