Key ways to legitimize diet shifts that favor plant instead of animal protein sources1

Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) received: 16 October 2020 / Revision accepted: 22 March 2021

Introduction

Efforts to change Western eating practices towards healthy diets from sustainable food systems, as recently recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health [2], will have important consequences for the position of animal protein, as reductions of (on average) more than 50% are proposed for the coming decades. The Commission fully acknowledges that its success will require a global transformation of the food system.

These proposals raise many questions about the ways in which major shifts in diet can be supported, given the existing preferences for meat because of its nutritional content and social significance [3]. What also should not be underestimated, is the highly contested context of meat debates, which may easily give rise to meat-supporting protests and brutal anti-scientific actions [4]. Also, there are many stakeholders who try to influence protein choices, using various kinds of marketing techniques to promote meat or high protein intake in general [5], while producers of meat alternatives appear to avoid any messages that could be seen as taking an anti-meat stance [6].

Abstract

A shift to a more healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission report) is currently hampered by persistent choices for meat. This paper puts forward the view that proposals for a diet shift will fall short without broad social legitimation by a change in social norms favoring plant instead of animal protein sources. Using psychological and linguistic perspectives, the paper aims to improve understanding of legitimation related to authority, moral evaluation, rationality, and story logic. Each category is examined with a view to how it may support (or oppose) the reordering of protein sources necessary for a diet shift. Key strategies are a further revision of the existing national authority-based dietary guidelines, using the diversity of rationality-based legitimations to support them, avoiding polarization of moral-based ideologies and being cautious of myths, micro-myths and stories.

Keywords: protein, sustainability, consumer, persuasion, plant-based, diet shift

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¹ This paper is an abbreviated version of [1], which is available at: → https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.104098 

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