Share on Pinterest A new study finds a simple way to get people to eat less meat is to simply offer more than one vegetarian dish.

A cafeteria that increased the number of vegetarian dishes found a 40 to 80 percent increase in vegetarian dishes sold, with no change to overall sales.

Experts say these tactics can be adopted in your day-to-day life to help you avoid a meat-centric diet. How do we get people to eat less meat? It’s a question posed by health-conscious nutritionists and concerned environmentalists alike. And despite a recent study that put the spotlight on red meat, most experts say eating a higher ratio of vegetables to meat is better for your health. But getting people to eat their vegetables instead of meat-based options has always been a tough sell. While the problem sounds like a difficult question to answer, the results of a recent experiment hint at a relatively easy solution: provide more vegetarian options. The study found that simply increasing the availability of plant-based foods significantly reduced the proportion of sales of meat-rich meals without hurting overall food sales.

Adding veg options reduces meat sales In the report, published on Sept. 30 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Cambridge studied the data on 94,644 meals (excluding salads and sandwiches) sold at three Cambridge college cafeterias during lunch and dinner in 2017. The report consisted of an observational study, where the researchers looked at the effect of the quantity of vegetarian choices already offered on the likelihood of diners picking a meat-free meal at two cafeterias. The study also included a “choice architecture” experiment, where researchers worked with the cafeteria to see how deliberately doubling the plant-based choices affected sales of meat. The results showed that the proportion of vegetarian meals sold rose 41 to 79 percent when cafeterias increased the number of plant-based options from one in four to two in four, and had little impact on overall sales. The most carnivorous quartile of customers were found to have the biggest increase in plant-based dining after a second veggie option was offered. The study also discovered that diners were not more likely to opt for a meat-heavy dinner after choosing a vegetarian lunch, indicating no rebound effect.

How proportion of choices influences decisions Why are people choosing to eat less meat when more veg options are available? Decision-making experts say that the phenomenon shows the effect of context on dining choices. “When human beings are making a choice, they’re very much influenced by context, including what other alternatives are available, in ways that are not obvious to the chooser,” said Dr. Lesley Fellows, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University, who has studied decision making. “We look at what’s available in the moment and arrange things in order of preference, choosing the one that looks best right now.” She said that when there’s just one meat-free meal available, diners might think of it as “the vegetarian option” and write it off if they don’t identify as a vegetarian. Increasing the proportion of plant-based options may allow diners to weigh their potential satisfaction of all meals, regardless of whether they have meat. “It’s perhaps causing people to consider the vegetarian option as not ‘the vegetarian option,’ but as an option in its own right,” she said. “They might stop thinking about it as vegetarian and start thinking of it as just food.” Furthermore, simply having more vegetarian options on offer might increase the chances that a diner finds a plant-based option that they enjoy. A person might be totally turned off by stir-fried veggies, but love pasta primavera.