This article Republished from conversation under Creative Commons License.
Humans have long struggled with their conscience about killing and eating animals. of “Meat Paradox” (the contradiction between people’s preference for meat and their concern for animals) inspired cave paintings From 37,000 years ago. Since then, many major thinkers People like Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Shelley, and Mahatma Gandhi avoided meat.
today, Half of US adults and Three-quarters of British adults Oppose factory farming to produce produce almost everything of their flesh, still approx. 1 in 10 people Follow a meat-free diet.
Plant-based diets are becoming increasingly tastier and cheaper in many countries. If we hire them, more lives will be saved. 80 billion animals It will take a year Reduce environmental damage by 75% than eating meat.
Benefits of going plant-based health and longevity is increasingly established and well-known cardiologist “There are two kinds of cardiologists: vegans and those who haven’t read the data.”
Despite these proven benefits of a vegan diet, most people continue to eat meat using strategies such as: “defensive reasoning” or Moral withdrawal and avoidance To reduce psychological anxiety.
Every January since 2014, vegetarian The campaign, which encourages people to eat a plant-based diet in January, attempts to break down these psychological defenses with photos of cute piglets and fluffy chicks and an invitation to give it a try. From around last year, 25 million peopleincluding about 4% of the UK populationparticipated.
According to Veganuary’s research, more than 80% of participants maintained significant reductions in meat consumption, cutting their intake in half or more. 6 months later.
The University of Exeter independently conducted three online surveys of Veganuary participants (a fourth is currently underway) and found that when people reduce or avoid meat, the way they view it and themselves changes. I did.
I hate meat
On average, people report that they don’t like meat very much, and some feel that way Horrible. This is complementary to our previous research It has been shown that 74 percent of vegetarians and 15 percent of flexitarians find meat unpleasant.
Another study of ours (under review) suggests that this “meat aversion” is deep-rooted. Those who report it (mainly vegetarians) react to the idea of eating meat in the same way that meat eaters react to the idea of eating meat. Eating feces or human or dog flesh.
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Caption: Aversion to meat runs deep.
Credit: Filip Obr/Alamy Stock Photo
If such negative emotions emerge when people avoid meat during a period of vegetarianism, then cutting out meat long-term may not be the sacrifice many expect. We are currently collecting 12-month data from 100 people who took part in last year’s Veganuary study and will see whether negative feelings towards meat predict long-term changes in meat consumption. is.
