Current levels of meat consumption in Western societies are unsustainable and contribute to the climate emergency. However, most people are not reducing their intake. Here, we examine the language used on social media to describe meat and plant-based foods, since the ways people think and communicate about food could hinder the transition towards sustainable eating. In two pre-registered studies, we analysed the degree to which the language in food posts on Instagram reflects eating simulations, which have been found to be associated with desire for appetitive stimuli. Specifically, thinking about or presenting foods or drinks in terms of rewarding simulations (i.e., re-experiences of enjoying their consumption) has been found to increase their appeal. Here, we analysed the words used in Instagram hashtags (NStudy1 = 852; NStudy2 = 3104) and caption text (NStudy1 = 682) to examine how much they refer to eating simulations (e.g., taste, texture, enjoyment, eating context) or to other food-related features (e.g., ingredients, preparation, health, category information). As hypothesized, meat posts contained more eating simulation hashtags than plant-based and vegetarian posts, which instead contained more eating-independent hashtags, for example referring to health or to vegan identity. Findings for the text words were generally in the same direction but much weaker. Thus, meat food posts contained hashtag language that is likely more appealing to mainstream consumers, because it refers to the enjoyable experience of eating the food, rather than the food being healthy or identity affirming. This pattern reflects polarisation surrounding sustainable foods, which may hinder the shift towards plant-based diets needed to curb climate change.
Keywords: Grounded cognition; Language; Plant-based food; Social media; Sustainability.
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