Adopting a plant-based diet could actually help out with the cost of groceries, according to a new study from the University of Guelph and Dalhousie University.

The research project, entitled “Canada’s Food Guide: Awareness, Understanding, Affordability, and Barriers to Adoption” surveyed 1,017 Canadians who are 18 years and older on their use of Canada’s Food Guide, as well as barriers they may face in adopting guide recommendations.

The new food guide, released in January of this year, eliminated its 2007 predecessor’s focus on food groups and recommended servings, instead focusing on increased consumption of fruits and vegetables while emphasizing a preference for “protein foods that come from plants.”

The barriers Canadians face when attempting to adopt plant-based diets ranged from limited accessibility to taste preferences.

Affordability was the most common barrier, with 26.5 per cent of participants citing costliness as a reason for not adopting the new guide’s recommendations.

A statement by Health Canada said that the group “[welcomed] the study on the understanding of and barriers to the adoption of Canada’s Food Guide” and will continue to review the findings while looking further into health inequity.

Guelph and Dalhousie’s study found that it would cost the average family of four about seven per cent less to switch from the 2007 Food Guide’s recommendations to those outlined in the 2019 Food Guide.

If students in particular are looking to save money on groceries, trends have shown that it would be more helpful to lean towards produce-centric diets rather than meat, according to Brenda Wambui, a research assistant from Dalhousie for the affordability aspect of the study.

“I am a student, and I know how difficult it can be to budget for food,” she said. “Switching over and eating more vegetables and fruit would be more beneficial, because at this current time, it’s cheaper than buying meat.”

However, the study also showed that if the prices of fruits and vegetables continue to increase, and higher consumer interest in the Food Guide heightens demand from farmers.

The report said “prices of produce could equal or surpass those of meat.”

Joanne Herrle-Braun, co-owner of Herrle’s Country Farm Market in St. Agatha, Ont., said though fluctuations in the produce industry are multi-faceted, recent changes to Ontario labour legislation remain the primary reason for recent and future increases in crop prices.

“A large reason for the cost of produce rising is the big increase in minimum wage,” she said. “Any industry that is focused so largely on labour is going see [a similar] effect. As a food producer and small business owner, I don’t want to have to charge my customers more, but these increased costs inevitably have to be passed on to the public.”

Jasper Taylor, a first-year aerospace engineering student at Carleton who has been a vegetarian most of his life, said misconceptions about the costliness of plant-based diets stem from an assumption that only high-ticket meat alternatives provide enough protein.

“People go into the store and look at just the tofu, for example. Sure, tofu is expensive, but that’s because soy is expensive,” he said. “They could be looking at other alternatives, like beans, which are super high in protein and cheap.”

Taylor added that if students interested in vegetarian or vegan diets were better informed before going shopping, they would likely find the Food Guide more budget-friendly.

“It’s not very expensive if you know what to look for,” he said. “[Being vegetarian] is about eating smaller amounts of protein with each meal from a variety of [plant-based] sources.”

Image by Jasmine Foong