Dietary transition requires work: exploring the practice-transition processes of young Danish meat reducers
The research article titled "Dietary transition requires work: exploring the practice-transition processes of young Danish meat reducers" authored by Morten Wendler and Bente Halkier, examines the social and practical challenges associated with reducing meat in one's diet.
The research article been published in the International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Food, Culture & Society.
The authors state that there is a growing acknowledgment in research and policy that populations, especially in wealthy nations, have undesirably high levels of meat consumption seen from a climate change perspective. The paper focuses on the interrelated everyday food practices of shopping, cooking, and eating, and what practice-demands processes of transition pose for practitioners when they reduce their meat consumption.
The paper analyzes interview data from 27 interviews with young people in Denmark (which has a very high meat consumption per capita) who have reduced or are in the process of reducing their meat consumption. The authors show how the transition of food practices is a gradual and non-linear process, which entails that the practitioner develop the elements necessary to successfully perform the modified food practice. They also show that this transition process demands work of the practitioner, in the form of time and effort.
Finally, the paper shows that while the explicit intention to reduce meat is widespread among practitioners, such an “intention to change” is not a prerequisite element of food practice transitions that result in reduced meat consumption.
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