Browsing by Author "Naakka, Mia"

This quantitative study on consumer motivations, which lead to limiting one's meat intake and to adopting some vegetable-based diet, is based on the data collected by the Finnish Consumer Society Research Centre and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in 2012. The online survey was targeted to vegetarians and students. The survey was based on The Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS) scale of 45 questions that contains 15 different groups of motivations. The aim of the study is to identify different vegetable-based diets and to study the differences in the motivations among the identified groups. Additionally, the study aims to determine the sustainability of the identified diets. Out of a data of 1 186 respondents, this study concentrates on analysing 515 respondents, who were identified in the study to represent vegans, other vegetarians and a group of consumers deliberately aiming for any vegetable-based diet without necessarily self-identifying as a vegetarian. They may also consume some meat. The study of the motivations leading to these diets was done with logistic regression analysis. The sustainability of the diets and their changes were analyzed with a non- parametric test of Kruskal-Wallis. According to this study, some motivations are more important than others when it comes to choosing to follow a certain diet. The motivations related to following the existing social norms, to respecting the traditions and, to some extent, to paying attention to the weight control makes it more likely for one to follow other vegetarian diet than veganism. When it comes to the people following more free vegetable-based diets, they are more likely to make food choices according to the existing social norms and by following the traditions. On the other hand, vegans tend to pay more attention to the healthiness of their diet. They are also more likely to follow their own existing habits and routines when choosing their food. Between other vegetarians than vegans and consumers following some other vegetable-based diets, vegetarians are more likely to be motivated by the habits and less motivated to follow the traditions when choosing their food. The consumption of foodstuff tends to vary depending on the diet that the respondents are following. Vegans follow the strictest diets and are less likely to drastically increase their meat consumption. Other vegetarians seem to be slightly more likely to modify their choices of foodstuffs. Their use of meat is quite rare and its consumption is generally decreasing. People on other vegetable-based diets are the least strict and the most likely to modify their diets. These consumers eat statistically significantly more chicken and fish than the other two groups. The fish intake in the group is even likely to increase. There are no statistically significant differences among these three groups when it comes to consuming vegetables. The results of this study suggest that vegans are the most strict and thus, the least likely to modify their diets. Other type of vegetarians are becoming more strict with their diets in time and keep on decreasing their meat intake overall. The consumers following other vegetable-based diets decrease the consumption of all the other type of meat but not fish. The study also suggests that social norms, habits and traditions are important when it comes to making difference between vegans, vegetarians and people following any other type of vegetable-based diets, making apparent the impact of one's social relations and surrounding environment on the food choices. The results suggest that becoming a vegetarian can be seen as a dynamic process. The strict vegetarian diets appear as a rejection of the existing social norms and traditions and thus, they can be seen even as presenting an alternative lifestyle. Research on the 'vegetarian career path' might be suitable to understand more profoundly on how the changes in diets happen.