Every year, more and more people are looking for alternatives to an animal-based diet. What initially appeared to be a lifestyle trend for a small minority has established itself in German society as a diet to be taken seriously. In other words, vegetarianism and veganism are on the rise.
In fact, around 10% of all Germans eat a plant-based diet, making Germany the country with the highest proportion of plant-based eaters in Europe. This is according to a recent survey conducted by the Smart Protein Project. Smart Protein is an EU-funded project run by the University of Copenhagen and the University of Ghent with the aim of developing a new generation of foods that are cost-effective, resource-efficient and nutritious.
One part of the project is to survey the food preferences of European citizens. To this end, a total of 7,578 respondents from ten different EU countries were asked about their attitudes towards plant-based foods. The respondents were selected on the basis of various demographic categories such as age, gender and level of education.
And the results are clear: a growing number of Europeans are considering alternatives to animal products. 30% of participants in the survey describe themselves as flexitarians. As explained by Smart Protein, this means: “Sometimes I eat meat, but I try to reduce my meat consumption and often choose plant-based foods instead”. In this sense, the Netherlands and Romania lead the way with the highest percentage of flexitarians – 42% and 40% respectively. In Germany, this percentage is significantly lower at 30% (as in the EU as a whole).
Leading vegetarians and vegans
As already mentioned, however, Germany is at the top of the list of the most vegetarian countries: 10% of German consumers eat a plant-based diet. And that’s not all: along with Italians and Danes, Germans are the countries that are more likely to eat plant-based meat products than conventional meat products. According to the survey, 51% of them have already reduced their meat consumption in the past year – a classification in which Germany is in second place.
Nevertheless, as the respondents emphasize, there is still plenty of room for growth among both plant-based eaters and plant-based diets. German consumers particularly want plant-based fresh cheese (32%), semi-hard cheese (32%) and plant-based mozzarella (31%) in the supermarket.
As far as animal-based foods are concerned, Germany is following the European trend, albeit to a lesser extent. German consumers consume milk most frequently (35% daily), followed by cheese (24% daily), yogurt (21% daily) and poultry (46% at least once a week). By comparison, in the EU as a whole, milk is consumed daily by 38% of respondents, cheese by 25%, yoghurt also by 25% and poultry by 55% weekly.
In any case, the results of the survey show that “a reduced consumption of animal-based foods – or even the elimination of these products – is the new normal in Europe”. Actually, both in Europe and in Germany.