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Humans have long wrestled with their conscience about killing and eating animals. The “Meat Paradox” (a conflict between people’s preference for meat and their concern for animals) may occur Inspired by cave paintings 37,000 years ago. Since then, many The leading thinker Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Shelley and Mahatma Gandhi have all given up meat.
today, Half of US adults And Three-quarters of UK adults Oppose production factory farming Almost all Of their flesh, yet only about One out of 10 Follow a meat-free diet.
Plant-based diets are becoming increasingly palatable and affordable in many countries. Adopting them saves over life 80 billion animals A year and will become the cause 75 percent less environmental damage than the meat diet.
The benefits of going plant-based health And long life Increasingly well established and has inspired a prominent Cardiologist To comment, “There are two types of cardiologists: vegetarians and those who haven’t read the data.”
Despite these proven benefits of a vegetarian diet, most people continue to eat meat, using strategies such as “Defensive Reasoning” or Moral separation and abstinence To reduce any psychological discomfort.
Every January since 2014, the vegetarian The campaign—which encourages people to eat a plant-based diet in January—attempts to break through these psychological defenses with images of cute pigs, fluffy chicks and an invitation to take up the challenge. Last year, around 25 million peopleIncluding about 4 percent of the UK populationjoined
Research by vegetarians suggests that more than 80 percent of participants sustain a major reduction in meat consumption, cutting their intake by half or more. Six months later.
At the University of Exeter, we have independently conducted three online studies of vegetarian participants (a fourth is underway) and found that when people reduce or avoid meat they begin to see meat and themselves differently. do
Hate meat
On average, people report liking meat less, some even find it disgusting. This is our complement Previous research It shows that 74 percent of vegetarians and 15 percent of vegans find meat abhorrent.
Another study of ours (under peer review) suggests that this “meat aversion” runs deep. People who report this (mainly vegetarians) react to the idea of eating meat in the same way that meat eaters react to the idea. Excrement, or eating human or dog flesh.
the picture
Caption: Hatred of meat runs deep.
Credit: Philipp Ober/Alamy Stock Photo
If such negative feelings emerge when people avoid meat while vegan, giving up meat for the long term may not be quite the sacrifice that many would expect. We are now collecting data after 12 months from 100 people who took part in our vegetarian study last year and will see if negative feelings towards meat predict long-term changes in meat consumption.
