Men won’t go vegan because they don’t think it’s MANLY, scientists say

Men are less likely to be vegan than women because the diet is not seen as masculine, a study suggests.

Evidence suggests that men are much less willing than women to give up steaks and barbecues for a trendy vegan diet.

To understand why, researchers asked 539 people to rate four vegan meals on a scale of how suitable they were for men or for women.

The vegan burger, carbonara, goulash and salad were on average seen as more suitable for women to eat than for men.

But the study suggests that a vegan diet could seem less daunting for men if it used more red-blooded language.

Half of the people in the study were given masculine descriptions of the food, such as a “beast burger” instead of a “wow-factor burger” or a hearty goulash instead of a gourmet burger.

The people-friendly descriptions of the food included the words smoky, fatty and juicy, with the burger and carbonara described as a ‘huge portion’ for ‘even the biggest appetite’.

People who were given masculine descriptions of the vegan meals rated them as less suitable for women than men who were given neutral descriptions such as ‘creamy’ and ‘delicious’.

This suggests that more masculine marketing of vegan foods could make them appear less girly.

But even though people viewed vegan foods as less feminine if they had masculine names and descriptions, they still rated the meals as slightly more suitable for women than for men.

Unfortunately, they also no longer said they wanted to eat the vegan meal, were willing to try it, or thought it would taste good.

Alma Scholz, who led the research at the University of Würzburg but is now at Stockholm University, said: ‘Men may be less inclined to consume vegan food due to the need to appear masculine.

“If we described this food in a more masculine way, we might make men more willing to eat it.”

Figures show that only 3.82 percent of men are vegan, while almost one in ten (9.4 percent) women now follow the diet

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Communication, asked people to rate the suitability of vegan food for men or women on a scale from one to seven.

A score of four meant it was not particularly suitable for either gender, a higher score meant it was more suitable for men and a score below four meant it was more suitable for women.

When a citizen was described in neutral words to half of the volunteers, the average rating was 3.68.

But its rating rose to 3.98 from people to whom it was described using more masculine words – meaning it was almost seen as a meal equally suitable for both men and women.

Men seem very sensitive to whether food can make them look less of a man, based on the research results.

Women’s assessments of whether vegan food is more suitable for men or women did not change significantly when male descriptors were used – but men’s did.

The study authors note that meat is culturally associated with strength and masculinity, which could make a vegan diet a hard sell.

Switching to plant-based meat could help the environment, experts say

Switching to plant-based products that mimic real meat could help the planet, scientists say.

Livestock farming at its current rate harms the environment in a number of different ways.

Cows, pigs and other farm animals emit large amounts of methane into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Raising livestock also means converting forests to agricultural land, which means cutting down CO2-absorbing trees, further adding to climate change.

Juicy Marbles is just one company making plant-based vegan products that are taking up more and more space on supermarket shelves

Factory farming and crop cultivation also require enormous amounts of water: 542 liters of water are used to produce just one chicken fillet.

In addition, the nitrogen-based fertilizer used on crops contributes to nitrogen oxide emissions.

Nitrous oxide is about 300 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

These fertilizers can also end up in rivers, further increasing pollution.

Scientists have recently suggested that bringing plant-based meat to public institutions such as schools and prisons could help spark a broader transition among the general public.

“Favoring alternative proteins in global procurement policy could help highlight tipping points in their adoption,” they say in a report.

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