Implications of Food Culture and Practice on the Acceptance of Alternative Meat

Natsumi Fujiwara () and Masashi Tachikawa
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Natsumi Fujiwara: Global Food Business Program, Kyushu Sangyo University, Fukuoka 813-8503, Japan
Masashi Tachikawa: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: To investigate the influence of food culture on the acceptability of meat substitutes, in 2023 we conducted a questionnaire survey on men and women aged 18–69 years (N = 1681) in Japan, a country with a food culture that regards soya as a meat substitute, focusing on ‘meaning’ in the theory of practice. Analysis of three groups—a flexible group who accept foods processed from soya as meat, a strict group who do not accept such foods as meat, and an intermediate group—showed that the flexible group tended to be more positive about the consumption of meat substitutes than the other groups. However, the flexible group was not simply more accepting, as they expressed aversion and anxiety in response to other questions. Food culture, i.e., what is understood to be meat, influences the acceptability of alternative meats. When examining the social acceptability of meat alternatives in the future, it is also important to look at social practices and historical and cultural backgrounds in a multilayered way, in addition to factors that have been emphasized in previous studies, such as consumers’ decision-making process.

Keywords: alternative meat; cultured meat; soy meat; social acceptability; meat substitute; clean meat; food culture; consumer; practice theory; questionnaire survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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