Browsing by Subject "ruokapäivän kuvaus"

Meat production has a number of negative effects on the environment, the climate and the welfare of farm animals. In addition, the consumption of red meat and meat products in particular is linked to a number of lifestyle diseases and certain types of cancer. In Finland, meat is consumed in excess regarding recommendations, and most Finns are not ready to give up eating meat altogether. Studies have shown that people perceive meat as natural, normal, necessary and comfortable. In other words, meat is perceived as food that people want to consume. Health reasons and ethical reasons most often motivate the transition to a vegetarian diet. In addition, ecological reasons have been identified as an important motive for the partial reduction of meat intake. This study examined how meat and it’s substitutes are part of the everyday eating of Finns and what changes have taken place in the consumption of meat and vegetable proteins in 2013 and 2020. The topic is approached with a qualitative research approach, which also includes quantitative features due to the large data size. The material in my research is in two parts; the first sub-dataset contains 485 food day descriptions from 2013 and the second sub-dataset contains 445 food day descriptions from 2020. The main method of data analysis is theory-driven content analysis. In the data, most of the respondents consumed meat or fish during their day. However, in the 2020 data set, holding a vegetarian food day was slightly more common, and plant proteins were consumed more variably than in the 2013 data set. Consuming meat turned out to be an everyday and easy choice based on the data. The most common reasons for reducing meat consumption were the desire to eat healthier, more ecologically and ethically. In addition, in the 2020 data, the choice of vegetarian food was influenced by the ease of cooking and the taste of the food. Many respondents said they were concerned about the climate and animal rights and were actively working towards a more vegetarian diet. Based on this study, the shift toward a more vegetable based diet has occurred fairly effortlessly and naturally. However, a discrepancy between knowledge, attitudes and practice can be identified in the respondents 'descriptions of the food day, as the respondents' attitudes are practically realized in only some of the descriptions of the food day. According to this study, meat consumption is not polarized, and the majority of respondents fall into the middle ground in terms of meat-related values ​​and consumption habits. In addition, the majority of respondents were positive about the plant-based nature of food. According to a previous study, a mere positive attitude may not be reflected in consumption at a practical level, which is why new ways are needed in the future to support consumers' shift towards a vegetarian diet.