While experts agree about the enormous environmental consequences of our current consumption of animal products, there remains much debate about the most effective strategies for reducing it.





In the article Reducing Meat Consumption in Today’s Consumer Society , researchers Erik de Bakker and Hans Dagevos provide three pragmatic approaches to engaging consumers as allies in meat reduction. Strategies differ based on a consumer’s degree of desire to reduce consumption.





1. Sustainability by stealth: For consumers who are more passive food purchasers and not currently reducing their meat consumption, the solution is to make plant-based equivalents of animal products increasingly accessible. Consumers are likely to accept sustainable foods that are not noticeably different from the foods they currently eat.





2. Moderate involvement: For consumers who are more active in their food choices and currently reducing their meat consumption, the recommendation is to introduce, support, and normalize more meat-free and low-meat meals and to increase familiarity with flexitarian diets. As a substantial portion of the population, flexitarians have the buying power to shift food culture in a way that the smaller, fully meat-eschewing population cannot.





3. Cultural change: For consumers who eat little to no meat and take into account environmental and animal welfare issues when making food choices, the best approach is to encourage giving up meat consumption completely.





Effective meat-reduction approaches acknowledge that a consumer’s ability to reduce meat consumption and eat sustainably is often limited by the shopping environment. Dagevos and de Bakker explain :





Whether and to what extent consumers really can become agents of sustainable change depends considerably on the opportunities and incentives offered or created by the infrastructure of consumption: to what extent is the sustainable choice the easy choice?





Our current food environment doesn’t provide enough support for consumers seeking sustainable plant-based options.





Effective approaches also take into consideration consumers’ different pathways to change. At The Good Food Institute, we believe it should be easy and rewarding for consumers from all backgrounds to make the best food choices for their health and the health of the environment. That’s why we’re working to make “clean” (i.e., cultured) and plant-based options convenient, delicious, and cost-effective.



