Abstract
This article reviews empirical research on consumers’ adoption of meat substitutes published up to spring 2018. Recent meat substitutes often have sustainable characteristics in line with consumers’ concerns over aspects of healthy food and the environmental impact of food production. However, changing lifestyles with less time for cooking, any transition from a strongly meat-based to a more plant-based diet depends on the successful establishment of convenient meat substitutes. This article reviews the growing body of research on meat substitutes. These research articles were classified into five different stages in line with the innovation-decision process of: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. The research was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively, with results suggesting that although health, environmental and animal welfare aspects can persuade consumers and influence their decision to try a meat substitute, the appearance and taste of those meat substitutes are crucial factors for their consumption on a regular basis. However, there still remains a gap in research articles focusing on the regular consumption of meat substitutes.
Highlights
Sustainability aspects of food consumption are manifold and typically subdivided into three dimensions: ecological, social and economic [1,2,3]
Changing lifestyles with less time for cooking, any transition from a strongly meat-based to a more plant-based diet depends on the successful establishment of convenient meat substitutes
There still remains a gap in research articles focusing on the regular consumption of meat substitutes
Summary
Sustainability aspects of food consumption are manifold and typically subdivided into three dimensions: ecological, social and economic [1,2,3]. Many novel foods have a focus on sustainability in line with consumers’ concerns over health aspects and the environmental impact of food production, especially of meat and dairy products. A partly vegetarian diet, e.g., one or two meat-free meals per week, would prove advantageous nutritionally [10,11]— concerning health aspects [12], and in environmental terms [13]. In this context, a meat substitute can be anything a consumer eats in place of conventionally produced meat, so reducing the environmental burden of his or her diet. The challenge that researchers and product developers face is the transition from animal-protein-based nutrition to a diet containing, for example, meat substitutes made from plant proteins [19]
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