More room for legume - Consumer acceptance of meat substitution with classic, processed and meat-resembling legume products

Abstract

The substitution of meat with legumes is one way of making food consumption more sustainable. The substitution would ease the debate on food security and is aligned with the recommendations of climate change experts. Consumer preferences on whether meat should be substituted and how meat can be substituted are heterogeneous. This article explores consumers' acceptance of replacing meat with legumes, their acceptance of meat alternatives made from legumes and their acceptance of processed legumes in general. Consumer samples were drawn from Germany (GER: N = 633) and New Zealand (NZ: N = 445). The samples reflect the underlying age, gender and income distributions. Two separate latent class analyses reveal seven consumer types with five in each country. A large cluster from both countries will not consider substituting meat with legumes or buying processed legume products. Another cluster will consider processed legume products if the products are not marketed as an alternative to meat. Although they do not use them regularly, many consumers in NZ are open to using meat substitutes made from legumes. Another group would prefer to directly substitute meat with specific legumes rather than having highly processed products. We discuss the cluster specific findings and how to develop consumers' acceptance of meat substitution with respect to each cluster.