Attitudes, Interest, And Influences For Becoming Vegetarian
The 12 participants considered themselves middle of the scale meat eaters and vegetarians.
The decision-drivers for food choices include eating for pleasure, weight control, the people they live with, the degree of food “processing”, the saturated fat content, calories and price.
There is confusion with respect to the terms “meat” and “vegetarian.” The interviewees learned about vegetarianism from work, school, fads, news, studies, friends, college, family and punk bands.
More than half of the group had tried a vegetarian product and three-fourths would try another. The others hadn’t tried these products because of taste or lack of knowledge.
More than half of participants said they would order a vegetarian meal in a restaurant, more than half felt these didn’t taste good and were unappealing.
Health is an important motivator for vegetarianism, but is not considered to be necessary or sufficient for healthy eating.
Willingness to consider vegetarianism is influenced by people’s feelings about meat.