Are vegetarianism and veganism just half the story? Empirical insights from Switzerland
Abstract
Purpose
Per capita meat consumption in Switzerland has been rather consistent for decades, although the percentage of vegetarians has risen to 14 per cent according to a recent survey. This study tries to resolve this apparent contradiction
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on household consumption data from Switzerland and focuses on the distribution of consumption rather than on average amounts, using descriptive statistics and a mixed-effects model which explains the coefficient of variation between single consumer consumption amounts.
Findings
Vegetarianism and veganism are not only overestimated through surveys but also associated with a segment of the population that is consuming increasing amounts of meat. This dual development leads to a stable per capita meat consumption.
Originality/value
Our results indicate that greater scientific attention should be paid to this segment of heavy meat eaters.
Keywords
Citation
Mann, S. and Necula, R. (2020), "Are vegetarianism and veganism just half the story? Empirical insights from Switzerland", British Food Journal, Vol. 122 No. 4, pp. 1056-1067. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2019-0499
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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