March of the ‘flexitarians’

Half of us go vegetarian part-time by ditching meat for 2 days a week

BRITAIN is becoming a nation of ‘flexitarians’ who are cutting back on meat to be more healthy.

Flexitarians eat meat only occasionally, often saving it as a treat for the weekend or when they go out to eat.

As a result, more than a third of evening meals now contain no meat at all, according to the market research company Kantar Worldpanel.

On average Britons eat meat 5.4 times a week across the country, but the number eating it less than this has risen by 2.2million in the last two years, research suggests.

It means almost half of us are now ditching meat at least twice a week. But part-time vegetarians are stopping short of giving it up full-time, with the number of complete vegetarians showing little change, at 4.6 per cent of the population. The latest figures were presented yesterday at the National Farmers Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham.

Nathan Ward, business unit director of Kantar Worldpanel, said he could not initially believe the rise in British people sitting down to meat-free dinners. He said: ‘The way people eat has changed. It’s no longer about cutting calories, it’s about eating the right things and the right portions.

‘They do still eat meat, but they are looking for more of a balance.’

The proportion of meat-free evening meals was 35.3 per cent at the end of last year, according to Kantar Worldpanel, with around one in six people eating meat fewer than three times a week. Super- markets have now noticed the trend, with shoppers being offered extra loyalty points for going ‘veggie’ or vouchers to encourage them to buy fresh produce.

The NFU conference heard shops are selling ‘lean and bean’ mince, containing 60 per cent beef and 40 per cent haricot beans to encourage people to cut down on their meat intake. Sausages are also being sold which contain both meat and vegetables. Mr Ward said: ‘We are seeing a real change in what people see as healthy and it has moved away from what they thought in the past.’ People now want fresh products, are more mistrustful of processed food and want smaller portions.

This plant-based diet comes alongside a wider trend for more convenient food which does not take as long to prepare.

Retail analysts came up with the term ‘flexitarian’ to describe those who eat meat and poultry less frequently than the average.

A survey last year found 40 per cent of people agreed with the statement ‘these days I eat less meat than I used to’, rising to 45 per cent among women.

Flexitarianism appears most appealing to the younger generation, with more than a quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds agreeing with the statement that ‘by 2025, my diet will probably be mostly meat-free’.

The research, by environmental think-tank Forum for the Future, said the movement is being driven by women and the age group from 15 to 34 – who are the primary grocery shoppers. It comes after high consumption of red meat has been linked to bowel cancer.

The NHS Choices website advises people trying to cut down on meat to swap the bacon or sausages in their full English breakfast for extra mushrooms, tomatoes or toast and consider choosing a vegetable burger rather than a quarter pounder.

People are advised to eat no more than 70g of red meat a day.

A partnership between Oxford University and Sainsbury’s to make more people flexitarian in the long term will see leaflets setting out the benefits of eating greens offered to shoppers.