Barriers associated with pulse and plant-based meat alternative consumption across sociodemographic groups: a Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour model approach.

Introduction: To enhance environmental sustainability and food security, there should be a change in dietary protein consumption. It is suggested that meat consumption should be reduced and that the currently low consumption of pulses and other plant-based proteins should increase. We aimed to examine (1) how sociodemographic factors and perceived barriers are associated with self-reported current and perceived future pulse and other plant-based meat alternative (PBMA) consumption and (2) how sociodemographic factors relate to perceived barriers. Methods: Participants were 18-75 year-old Finnish adults (n = 1,000). Multivariable logistic regression was used as the main analysis technique. The results were interpreted by employing the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour (COM-B) model. Results: Pulses were consumed more often than PBMAs and lower education level and financial strain were associated with more infrequent pulse and PBMA use. The most common perceived barriers for pulse consumption were unfamiliarity, expensive price, and unpleasant taste, which can be interpreted to represent the capability, opportunity and motivation components of the COM-B model, respectively. Women, the young, and financially strained perceived more barriers limiting their pulse consumption than others. Discussion: To increase plant-based food consumption, it is important that tasty, easy to use and affordable plant-based foods are available for all. Additionally, we suggest that food services should be encouraged to increase the use of pulses in their dishes and that capabilities, opportunities and motivations are taken into account in intervention measures advancing plant protein consumption.

How vegans and vegetarians negotiate eating-related social norm conflicts in their social networks.

This qualitative study, framed by social identity theory, examines how self-identified vegans and vegetarians negotiate diet-related social norm conflicts within their social networks. Twenty-one semi-structured interviews with 18- to 58-year-old vegans and vegetarians who represented five nationalities were analysed inductively through thematic analysis. According to the results, social norm conflicts occurred in contexts where tense family relations or boundaries between in-group and out-group were salient. The results also show that in order to manage norm conflict situations, the interviewees used strategies towards the dominant social norms, such as adapting, challenging, and weakening. In particular, adapting to the dominant social norms was used in relationships that were not close, whereas challenging and weakening were used within close relationships. The interviewees had developed practical solutions to resolve social norm conflicts, such as eating what was served, actively providing information, or acting as an example to others. The results enhance understanding of the challenges entailed by practising vegan or vegetarian diet in an omnivorous society.

Towards more environmentally sustainable diets? Changes in the consumption of beef and plant- and insect-based protein products in consumer groups in Finland.

This study investigated consumers' self-reported past changes and future intentions to change the consumption of beef and alternative, plant- or insect-based protein products. A survey of 18-79-year-old consumers in Finland (N = 1000) was analysed with latent class analysis, and five consumer clusters were identified. The largest cluster (37%) consumed beef, but no alternative protein products; three clusters incorporated alternative protein products in their diets in different ways (in total 55%); and one cluster did not consume beef or alternative proteins (8%). In total 27% of the respondents intended to reduce the consumption of beef in the future, whereas 26% planned to increase the consumption of plant-based and 24% planned to increase the use of insect-based protein products. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that the use of alternative proteins was associated with higher health and sustainability motives, and lower food neophobia. The results suggest that demand for new, more sustainable proteins and protein innovations will grow in the future.

Insect Consumption Attitudes among Vegans, Non-Vegan Vegetarians, and Omnivores.

BACKGROUND: Consumption of foods of insect origin is encouraged, since insect consumption is seen as one of the responses to the environmental impact of meat production. This study examines the attitude (A), subjective norm (SN), perceived behavioral control (PC), and food neophobia (FN) toward the consumption of foods of insect origin, as well as the conditions for eating insect-based foods among vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores. METHODS: The data was obtained by using an online survey and convenience sampling (n = 567, of whom omnivores represented 74%, vegans 5%, and non-vegan vegetarians 22%). RESULTS: The three dietary groups exhibited significantly different intention (I) to eat foods of insect origin. Vegans held the most rigid negative attitude (A), and their subjective norm (SN) to eat insects was weaker compared to that of omnivores (p < 0.001) and non-vegan vegetarians (p < 0.001). Vegans' perceived behavioral control (PC) over their eating of insects was stronger compared to that of omnivores (p < 0.001) and non-vegan vegetarians p < 0.001), and they were more neophobic than omnivores (p < 0.001) and non-vegan vegetarians (p < 0.001). Non-vegan vegetarians held the most positive attitude toward eating insects, and both non-vegan vegetarians and omnivores thought that insect consumption is wise and offers a solution to the world's nutrition problems. In contrast, vegans regarded insect consumption as immoral and irresponsible. CONCLUSIONS: Vegans' weak intention, negative attitude, and low willingness to eat insects in the future exhibit their different dietarian identity compared to that of omnivores and non-vegan vegetarians.

Online weight-loss services and a calculative practice of slimming.

This study examines the slimming practice produced by Internet-based weight-loss services and their use. Drawing on theories of practice, the study analyses the script of use that is constructed by the services, and the meanings, materialities and competences that are enacted in their use. Based on 20 semi-structured interviews with women who were users of two Finnish online weight-loss services, the study concludes that the services transform food into quantitative depictions of calories and nutrition. They configure slimmers as calculative agents and slimming as a practice based on incessant recording and monitoring. For online slimmers, the services acted in the double role of a control device with a focus on calorie restriction, and a learning device used to develop a skill of healthy eating. In the latter role, online slimming was hoped to result in an internalisation of a lifestyle change that would make calculation and constant monitoring unnecessary and the services redundant for their users. The results suggest that for its practitioners, online slimming is temporary rather than long-standing, but it may and is expected to act as a mediary in establishing other practices related to healthy lifestyles.

Changes in the social context and conduct of eating in four Nordic countries between 1997 and 2012.

How have eating patterns changed in modern life? In public and academic debate concern has been expressed that the social function of eating may be challenged by de-structuration and the dissolution of traditions. We analyzed changes in the social context and conduct of eating in four Nordic countries over the period 1997-2012. We focused on three interlinked processes often claimed to be distinctive of modern eating: delocalization of eating from private households to commercial settings, individualization in the form of more eating alone, and informalization, implying more casual codes of conduct. We based the analysis on data from two surveys conducted in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 1997 and 2012. The surveys reported in detail one day of eating in representative samples of adult populations in the four countries (N = 4823 and N = 8242). We compared data regarding where, with whom, and for how long people ate, and whether parallel activities took place while eating. While Nordic people's primary location for eating remained the home and the workplace, the practices of eating in haste, and while watching television increased and using tablets, computers and smartphones while eating was frequent in 2012. Propensity to eat alone increased slightly in Denmark and Norway, and decreased slightly in Sweden. While such practices vary with socio-economic background, regression analysis showed several changes were common across the Nordic populations. However, the new practice of using tablets, computers, and smartphones while eating was strongly associated with young age. Further, each of the practices appeared to be related to different types of meal. We conclude that while the changes in the social organization of eating were not dramatic, signs of individualization and informalization could be detected.

From beef to beans: Eating motives and the replacement of animal proteins with plant proteins among Finnish consumers.

A better understanding of the motives underlying the adoption of sustainable and healthy diets is needed for designing more effective policies. The aim of the study was to examine how eating motives were associated with self-reported changes in the consumption of beef, beans, and soy products, i.e., changes related to reducing animal and increasing plant proteins. The study analysed a survey of an adult population living in Finland (N = 1048). The eating motives were measured with the Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS), which distinguishes between 15 eating motives. Six clusters of consumers based on self-reported changes in food choices were identified with latent class analysis (LCA). Four clusters had established food consumption patterns ("Beef only", "Beef and beans", "Beef, beans, and soy products", and "No beef"), one was undergoing a change, and one had attempted a change earlier. ANOVA with planned contrasts revealed that the motives relating to natural concerns, health, and weight control were higher, and convenience and price lower, among those who had an established diet including beans and soy products, as compared to those who consumed only beef. Those undergoing a dietary change expressed a higher endorsement of natural concerns as well as health, sociability, social image, and price motives than those with an established diet including beans and soy products. The results suggest that eating motives play an important role in changing towards more sustainable food consumption patterns in which meat/beef is replaced with plant proteins.

Everyday distinction and omnivorous orientation: An analysis of food choice, attitudinal dispositions and social background.

In recent years studies on cultural consumption have experienced a Bourdieusian renaissance. This is indicated by a growing body of research analysing distinctions in different areas of culture, and numerous studies on the homology thesis applying the concepts of distinction, field and capital. Concurrently, however, it has been argued that instead of distinctive tastes, distinction and class status are increasingly manifested by cultural omnivorousness. For a good part studies focussing on distinction in food have analysed eating out and stylization through restaurant preferences, rather than everyday food choices. In this article we investigate everyday food choices from the perspective of distinction and omnivorousness. Our analysis draws on cross-sectional quantitative data collected in 2012 among 15-64-year-old Finns (N = 2601). The article maps out the relationship between food choice frequencies, dispositions and social background with Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). The results show that the consumption of fruit and vegetables, ready-meals and convenience foods were among the most divisive food choices. The first structuring dimension juxtaposed processed, fatty and sugared foods with unprocessed foods and fresh ingredients. This dimension was associated with healthiness and weight control as dispositions. On the second structuring dimension there were differences in the valuation of taste, pleasure and sociability, and a contrast between moderate and restrictive choices. Particularly the first dimension was associated with educational, occupational, and gender differences. Distinction within everyday food choices was manifested in the use of healthy and unprocessed foods and 'moderate hedonism' in contrast to more restrictive tastes.

Food choices, perceptions of healthiness, and eating motives of self-identified followers of a low-carbohydrate diet.

BACKGROUND: Low-carbohydrate (LC) diets have gained substantial media coverage in many Western countries. Little is, however, known about the characteristics of their followers. OBJECTIVE: The article analyses how those who report following an LC diet differ from the rest of the population in their background, food choices, weight reduction status, as well as food-related perceptions and motives. The data are a part of the Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population survey collected in spring 2012 (n=2,601), covering 15- to 64-year-old Finns. RESULTS: Seven per cent of the respondents identified themselves as followers of the LC diet. Gender and education were not associated with following an LC diet. The youngest respondents were the least likely to follow such a diet. The LC diet group preferred butter but also vegetables more commonly than the other respondents and were less likely to use vegetable bread spreads. The followers of the LC diet and the other respondents agreed about the healthiness of whole grain, vegetable oils, vegetables, and fruits and berries, and of the harmfulness of white wheat. Compared to the other respondents, the LC diet group was less likely to regard eating vegetable/low-fat products as important, more likely to regard eating healthy carbohydrates, and the health and weight-managing aspects of foods, as important and placed less value on sociability and pleasures connected to food. The results showed varying food choices among the followers of the LC diet: some even reported that they were not avoiding carbohydrates, sugars, and white wheat in their diet. CONCLUSIONS: Planners of nutrition policies should follow-up on new diets as they emerge and explore the food choices and motives of their followers and how these diets affect the food choices of the whole population.

"If I drink it anyway, then I rather take the light one". Appropriation of foods and drinks designed for weight management among middle-aged and elderly Finns.

This article examines everyday ideals of eating for weight management as described by middle-aged and elderly Finns with varying experiences of managing their weight. The paper draws on the theoretical approach of appropriation and looks at the meanings, understandings and use of foods for weight management in the context of the practices of eating. The article is based on an analysis of eight focus group discussions with 68 people (47 women, 21 men, aged between 38 and 77) conducted in Helsinki in autumn 2009. The findings of the study suggest that lay understandings of foods suitable for weight management rest not only on simple measures such as energy, fat and sugar, but also on a complex set of generalised food ideals. These include a conflict between foods described as natural against artificial, moral judgements of the necessity of foods designed for weight management, and the overall emphasis on moderation as a basic ideal. The results indicate that people employ two perspectives in assessing foods suitable for weight management: in the context of the whole of diet the products are dismissed as unnecessary, but in specific situations they can replace 'normal' products if the latter are deemed more harmful.

Diversifying meat consumption patterns: consumers' self-reported past behaviour and intentions for change.

This study analysed meat consumption patterns among Finnish consumers, considering both stated past changes and intended future changes. Consumer segments with different patterns of and reasons for change were identified. Latent class analysis revealed six consumer clusters that formed three major cluster blocks. The first block, comprising 48% of the consumers, had established consumption patterns and no intentions to change them. In the second block, with 13% of the consumers, consumption patterns had already shifted towards more vegetables and less meat. The third block, with 39% of the consumers, was identified to be in the middle of a change with a general tendency to reduce the use of meat and increase the use of vegetables. Although the environmental effects of meat and animal welfare issues were important reasons for change in some clusters, healthiness was the most salient stated reason for changing consumption habits.

'All foods affect health': understandings of functional foods and healthy eating among health-oriented Finns.

One of the recent phenomena in contemporary discussion of eating is 'functional foods', i.e. foods marketed as promoting health or reducing the risk of disease. This article analyses lay understandings of health-promoting foods in Finland by examining the ways in which middle-aged health-oriented consumers make sense of functional foods in the context of healthy eating. The article is based on an analysis of eight focus group discussions held with 45 users and non-users of cholesterol-lowering products as specific type of functional foods. The findings indicate that consumers interpret functional foods and healthy eating from a variety of perspectives. These perspectives include (1) focus on the whole diet, (2) distinguishing between healthy foods and functional foods, (3) the dilemma of eating for health or for pleasure, (4) healthfulness as an 'individual' issue and finally, (5) the duality of risk in the context of functional foods. The diversity of perspectives illustrates the ways that interpretations of functional foods and healthy eating are entangled with notions of uncertainties relating to scientific knowledge, moral undertones governing what is defined as acceptable eating and the symbolic significance of food as an inextricably social matter.