Stir-fried tofu with vegetables and peanut sauce. Photo Shutterstock Flexitarians prefer to cook without meat substitutes. However, how and what they cook depends on the composition of their households, as a study among millennials conducted by doctoral candidate Pieter Groen (Food Quality & Design) shows.
Fake meat is declining in popularity, but protein substitutes are still needed. Groen: ‘Hence, we must consider the context in which people use meat substitutes. Only thus can we design new products that really match what consumers actually use.’
Groen interviewed thirty millennial flexitarians on the cooking habits in their household for his study. ‘Members of this generation, born roughly between 1980 and 1999, are open to the protein transition and already have a few years of work under their belt, which means they have some money to spend. Some may still be living with housemates, while others live alone or with their partners, and some may even have children. This group is a diverse representation showing the cooking choices flexitarians make.’
Creative challenge
Ahead of the interview, Groen had the participants and the members of their household take on creative assignments for a week. The assignments were linked to the topic. ‘The assignments ranged from having all members of the household draw their favourite dish to thinking about reasons why someone might want to cut back on their meat intake.’ He also requested pictures of their evening meals. ‘Engaging with the topic in this manner increases awareness of your own behaviour.’
‘Almost all of the participants stated that they prefer to cook “complete vegetarian meals” without fake meat’, says Groen. People with better cooking skills were better able to produce a complete meal without meat. ‘They used alternatives such as legumes, cheese and nuts and cooked a completely different meal without meat as a reference.’
Barbecuing
Those lacking cooking skills more frequently used fake meat. ‘They focus on variations of meals that normally contain meat. By removing the meat, the meal is no longer complete, which leaves them with no other option than using fake meat since they lacked the skills and knowledge to experiment with ingredients.’
There is no meat substitute capable of simulating the cooking experience that barbecuing offers
The time available for cooking was another hurdle, as well as the demands of partners and children with regard to the menu. ‘It is mostly the men that seem to hold on to meat as part of the menu, and this appears to be linked to the experience it brings. Cooking a large slab of meat during a barbecue really cannot be compared to a ready-to-eat meat substitute that takes two minutes to heat. There is no meat substitute capable of simulating the cooking experience that barbecuing offers. They were not really looking for something that mimics the flavour and texture of meat but rather something that mirrors their passion for barbecuing.’
Groen believes there is a demand for different types of meat substitutes. ‘Products that have not been made to look like meat. Or something that can be used during cooking, which requires some form of preparation rather than just heating. That would help consumers take a different approach to vegetarian cooking or learning to cook without referring to meat. That allows us to experiment rather than copy.’
